Every year, businesses make the same keyword mistakes when optimizing their Google rankings. Unfortunately, these mistakes can cost your business dearly in terms of both time and money spent on SEO efforts that don’t bring the desired results. Keywords have always been important, but the way in which they are used often evolved. With this in mind, it’s time to avoid these mistakes.
Not Having a Specific Focus
To get the most out of your keyword strategy, it’s important to narrow your focus and target a few relevant keywords that are tailored specifically to your business. Don’t try to cover all topics or niches – instead, use a few select keywords that are closely related to your product and services. By doing this, you can reach the right audience and give your SEO efforts a clear direction.
Using Obsolete Keywords
It’s important to use up-to-date keywords that reflect the current trends in search engine algorithms. Outdated keywords won’t bring much value to your website, since they don’t accurately reflect what people are actually searching for. As such, using obsolete keywords can hinder your SEO efforts and cause your website to get lost in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
To stay up-to-date with the latest keyword trends, consider using a keyword tool or do some research into what people are currently typing into search engines.
Using Too Many Keywords
When it comes to keywords, more isn’t always better. Focusing on a few high-quality keywords is far more effective than trying to cram a ton of random words into your website’s content. This practice, known as “keyword stuffing”, is frowned upon by search engines and can actually hurt your website’s rankings.
In a single article or webpage, try to use no more than 2-3 keywords. Any more than that and it’s likely you are over-optimizing your content and risking a penalty from search engines. Also, you will likely have the same keywords on multiple pages and they will start to compete against one another. To optimize your strategy, King Kong can implement all sorts of useful techniques and tools.
Ignoring Long-tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords, or phrases that are typically three words or longer, can be extremely beneficial for SEO because they have less competition and more targeted intent than shorter, simpler search terms. Although these keywords may have lower search volumes than their shorter counterparts, they can have a huge impact on your website’s overall SEO efforts.
One reason why long-tail keywords are growing more important is the use of voice search, which is becoming increasingly popular. As people start speaking their search terms into devices like Google Home or Amazon Echo, they are using more natural language terms rather than two-word keyword phrases. Businesses should invest in researching long-tail keywords and work them into their SEO strategy to ensure that they’re targeting the right audience
Overlooking Local Keywords
If you’re a local business, you must include localized keywords on your website and within your SEO strategy. With more people using their phones for local businesses, you need to include local keywords in your content. This will help ensure that your business shows up when someone searches for a product or service related to your business with a localized keyword.
Forgetting the Quality of Content
Finally, businesses should never underestimate the importance of quality content. Writing content that is engaging, informative, and helpful to your target audience is essential for good SEO. Content that has no value or poorly written content will not only hurt your SEO but can also damage your brand’s reputation (even when it contains keywords!).
