By now you should have a good idea of what Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is, what you can do to improve your website’s SEO, how blogs can help boost your SEO, and how to measure your success with SEO. If you’d like a refresher, then click here to view more of our blogs. 
 
Today marks the last blog in the series! This one highlights common mistakes that can be made with SEO and how to avoid them. 
So, let's dive in. Here are several common mistakes that people make with SEO: 
Not realising that pages need to load quickly 
 
Trying to rank in Google for the wrong keywords 
 
Forgetting to attract visitors to your website 
 
Lack of quality content 
 
Not enough ‘calls to action’ for visitors 
 
Forgetting that mobile viewing isn’t just the future, it’s the now! 
 

So how do you avoid them? 

Page Speed 

The faster your website loads, the higher Google will rank it. There are several useful sites you can use to measure this, for example Google PageSpeed Insights
 
Here at it'seeze Gloucestershire, we can give you a free website health check which will tell you exactly how fast each of your pages take to load.  
 
Think about it. If you're going on to a website and the page takes a while to load, 9 times out of 10 you would most likely get frustrated and click off. Don't let yourself fall into this trap! Make sure your web pages all load quickly. 
Another way to help with this is to optimise all the images on your website, as large file sizes can also slow web page loading time. For more information on how to do this, contact us

Wrong Keywords 

Keywords are part of the content of your website and directly affect its Google search ranking. Try to put yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes. If they were going to try and find you on Google, what would they search for? 
 
Also, try not to make your keywords too generalised, as it will not be realistic for you to be found for these terms. For example, if your business is selling flowers, you're aiming too high if you're looking to just rank for ‘florist’ as you’ll be up against every other florist out there, and some of them will have much larger and longer established websites than you. 
However, if you specialise in selling roses and you’re based in Gloucester city centre, then work on establishing ‘rose florist in Gloucester’ as a keyword phrase on your website. That way, you’ll have a much better chance of ranking higher on Google for the things that you really want to be found for. 
 
If you are struggling to find what your keywords are/should be, then here is a great tool. 

Attracting Visitors 

So how do you attract visitors to your website before they have actually seen your page? The simple answer is the page title and meta description. The page titles in your website need to describe what location your business would like to trade in, and what you'd like to be ‘famous’ for. 
 
Here is an example of a good page title: 
The page title directly affects Google rankings, whereas the meta description helps people understand what to expect when they click on the link to go to the page. Make this attractive, as it needs to entice viewers to read more and needs to be relevant to what they have searched for. 
 
Here is an example of a good meta description: 
WARNING! Make sure that you stick to the character limit for both the title and description as if it is too long, Google will cut it off and visitors will be unable to see the full content. 

Quality Content 

Writing engaging and original content can help turn a visitor into a client. Make sure that each of your web pages have at least 300 words of content. 
 
One tip: Write for your audience, not Google. If you show your audience that you are an expert in your industry by writing quality content, then this won’t go unnoticed. Google will then match your website to your target audience’s search queries. 
If you’re really struggling to know what to say, then we can recommend people that will help you with this. Contact us

Call To Action (CTA) 

Keep your visitors on your site by making sure you provide plenty of CTAs. If users aren’t directed where to go or what to do next, then they will just leave your website and go elsewhere. To avoid this happening, add frequent CTA buttons such as ‘book now’, ‘call us’, ‘sign-up here’, etc., and show visitors exactly where you want them to go on your website and what you want them to do next. 
 
Make sure the buttons are clear, obvious and frequent. Make your CTAs stand out, just like your business! 
Mobile Friendly 
Google decides how high a website should rank based on how the mobile version of your website looks. It is no good having a website that looks fantastic on a desktop if it looks terrible on a mobile and is hard to use. 
 
Google has a mobile friendly test which tells you how easy your website is to use on a mobile. Alternatively, a good way to check is by going onto your mobile and having a manual look! 
 
If you find it difficult to navigate around your own website, then visitors are going to find this even harder! 
 
it’seeze Gloucester also include this as part of our free website health check. If you’d like to benefit from this, then please click here

Summary 

Focus on these individual aspects to improve your website’s Google ranking, and to avoid falling into these common SEO mistakes. If you’d like further help with this, then please contact us
 
We’re here to help. It’s what we do! 
 
If you would like to find out more about how it'seeze can help your business grow even when working from home, email hello@itseeze-gloucester.co.uk or call us 01285 700 755 
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