Did you know that over 90% of web pages get no organic search traffic from Google? Many bloggers struggle to become successful, often because of common SEO mistakes that can be easily avoided. In this blog, I’ll cover 10 of the most common SEO mistakes bloggers make and how to avoid them. These tips will help you improve your blog’s performance and avoid pitfalls that could be holding you back.
Who am I to tell you what to do?
These are just a taste of what you can find in my comprehensive PDF guide, “Blog Boost: Master SEO and Monetize Your Blog Like a Pro,” which dives deep into effective strategies for optimizing your blog and boosting your organic traffic. As a bonus, I uncovered all the proven techniques that helped me make my first $1,000 from blogging!
Also, I did rank my website at the number one spot on Google worldwide without spending any money on any SEO consultancy. I studied a lot online and just tried different stuff to see what worked!
1. Spending Too Much Time on Keyword Research
Choosing the right keywords is the foundation of any successful SEO strategy. Without it, you’re essentially flying blind. However, do we really need to spend hours researching the right keywords to use in our blogs? I decided to use a different strategy: literally going by common sense. What are people searching for on certain topics?
Should you go niche?
What am I trying to achieve with my blog? What could be a good niche blog that people search for but there are not enough high-quality results for? I write the ideas down, which then result in the main focus keyword (explained in my SEO PDF guide) and other keywords to use in the blog. The most amount of your time should be spent writing the blog, not researching the keywords.
2. Not Optimizing for Mobile
With more than half of all web traffic coming from mobile devices, optimizing your blog for mobile is crucial. Use responsive design, test your site on different devices, and ensure that your mobile load speed is optimized. If your current WordPress theme doesn’t look good on mobile, you need to change it. It has to work first, and then you can think about how good it looks.
3. Overlooking On-Page SEO
On-page SEO involves optimizing individual pages to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic. Ensure your title tags, meta descriptions, header tags, and URL structures are optimized with relevant keywords. In my SEO for bloggers ebook, I provide a step-by-step guide on how to do this for each blog.
No SEO optimization, no rank
If you don’t do this basic SEO optimization, there is zero chance for you to rank your blogs because Google will not be able to clearly and quickly recognize what your blog is about. It will skip it and choose the blog that has a clear meta description and title. It’s basically knowing you didn’t do your homework, and search engines are not bothered to add more work to themselves by trying to figure out what your blog is about.
4. Using Duplicate Content
Duplicate content can confuse search engines and dilute the authority of your content. Always create unique content and use canonical tags to tell search engines which version of a page is the original. Writing 10 or even 2 blogs about the same topic in a very similar way is a waste of time. Google will always go for the best blog on the topic from your website. You can write 100 blogs about video editing, for example, but you can still pinpoint a different tool or technique of video editing so that you have unique content despite writing about the same topic.
5. Ignoring Page Load Speed
A slow-loading website will hurt your SEO and user experience. Make sure you choose a good web hosting provider that loads your website quickly. Optimize images and leverage browser caching. Images should be as small as possible in size but still good quality. Everything above 300kb is way too big. However, you can use the WordPress plugin Smush to resize your images and compress them automatically. To improve website speed in general, you can add a plugin called W3 Total Cache.
6. Not Using Internal Links
Internal links help search engines understand the structure of your website and keep visitors engaged. Link to relevant posts within your blog to provide additional value and improve your site’s SEO. I usually link to other blogs or products I sell on my website. Make sure all the links you’re using are relevant to your current blog; otherwise, it will do more harm than good.
7. Neglecting Alt Text for Images
Alt text helps search engines understand the content of your images and improves accessibility. Write descriptive alt text for all images, incorporating relevant keywords naturally. Your images should include your focus keyword as alt text. Works like magic for ranking!
8. Not Updating Old Content
Keeping your content fresh and up-to-date is important for maintaining its relevance and ranking. Many of my blogs still rank high in the search results despite being published 3 years ago. I need to make sure the content is still up to date and all the links are working. Go back to your old blogs and make sure they are relevant. Do not completely rewrite them; just make sure they don’t contain outdated information and broken links.
9. Overusing Keywords
Keyword stuffing can make your content look spammy and harm your SEO. Integrate keywords naturally into your content and focus on providing value to your readers.
I recently received an inquiry from an SEO consultant who wanted to contribute a guest post to my website. My blog has 2,000 organic clicks monthly, and he saw it as a prime opportunity to promote his business. However, upon reviewing the blog he sent, I noticed some red flags.
First, the post was riddled with overly generic sentences—classic ChatGPT-generated content. Additionally, he used the keyword “SEO” 41 times! This is called keyword stuffing and it could potentially harm my website.
Keyword stuffing is the most common of all SEO mistakes
Google uses algorithms to detect keyword stuffing. If your site is flagged, it can be penalized or even banned from search results, which drastically reduces your site’s visibility.
This experience reminded me how important it is to have a basic understanding of SEO for blogging. Proper SEO practices not only enhance your organic traffic but also protect your site from being penalized or classified as spam.
Don’t leave your site’s fate in the hands of others—educate yourself on SEO basics and take control of your online presence.
10. Not Measuring and Analyzing Performance
Without tracking your blog’s performance, you can’t understand what’s working and what’s not. Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor your traffic, rankings, and other key metrics. Search Console is amazing as it shows you how people found you, meaning which keywords they used to land on your blog and how much time they spent on it. These stats will give you crucial clues on what is working and what to change.
Conclusion
By avoiding these common SEO mistakes, you can significantly improve your blog’s performance and start seeing better results. These tips are just the beginning. For a more comprehensive look at effective SEO strategies and detailed monetization tips, check out my PDF guide, “Blog Boost: Master SEO and Monetize Your Blog Like a Pro.“
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