Guide To Why A Website’s SEO Ranking Drop and Common SEO Mistakes
SEO Ranking Drop – When the internet first became something the average person could use right at home, did you ever imagine it would become such a fundamental part of our everyday lives? Or that it would become so integral to how we do pretty much anything that it could make or break your business? In fact, there is a saying among marketers that if your business isn’t on the internet, it essentially doesn’t exist.
Although these days, it would probably be more accurate to say that if your business isn’t on Google, then it essentially doesn’t exist. Of course, search engines like Bing, DuckDuckGo and others also bring some traffic — but Google owns 91.88% of the search engine market share as of June 2022. And when people talk about search engine optimisation, they’re usually referring to Google SEO.
While they may not know that only a measly 0.78% of Google searchers click on something from the second page of results, they do know that getting to the number one ranked position for a relevant keyword or search phrase is essential to their long-term success. So, it is understandable that a sudden drop in Google rankings may cause feelings of panic.
Google Penguin Algorithm Ranking Drop
We’ll look at this in more detail, highlighting:
Why does SEO ranking drop and fluctuate?
The shortest answer to why SEO ranking drop and fluctuate is that Google has over 200 ranking factors, and any combination of elements can cause a dramatic drop. However, the most common reasons for sudden changes in search rankings include significant content changes on your website (or the specific page in question), a major algorithm update, Google penalties, technical issues with your site, improvements in SEO efforts by competitors, and layout changes in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).
But if your website isn’t performing as well as it used to, then this checklist we use to quickly diagnose and resolve the most common issues may help get your SEO efforts back on track and recover your Google rankings:
- Check your data
- Review rank tracker tools
- Are your pages still indexed?
- Can bots crawl your site?
- What status code do your pages return?
What do you check first when you see an SEO ranking drop?
Did your SEO ranking drop? The very first step to recovering your SEO ranking is to stop panicking. We’re serious. Changes in search engine rankings happen all the time, and even the best SEO marketers have had their top-performing pages suddenly plunge out of the top ten or even top 100 ranked results. Although it is something to be concerned about, the good news is that usually there is nothing to worry about.
It could be that Google has been fine-tuning their ranking algorithm, which they do several times a day, or it could be that your rank tracking application is experiencing a bug. As long as you don’t make any huge changes immediately, you’ll most likely find that everything has returned to normal within 24 hours or so.
But maybe you want to be safe rather than sorry. Or you’ve already let a whole day pass, and you’ve not regained your previous position. In that case, this simple guide can help you make sure that everything related to the most common SEO issues is in order.
This will help you determine whether there are any changes you need to make or whether you need to be patient and wait for things to right themselves, which they will do if you have consistently followed current Google SEO best practices and haven’t resorted to black hat SEO tactics.
#1. Check your data
An important thing to note here is that the view in Google’s SERPs can differ for each person. This is because Google takes personalisation seriously, so everything from stored cookies to your search history can affect what you see when you Google a certain keyword. So getting onto the first page of Google is the result of a carefully planned SEO strategy and months of work.
And part of a comprehensive SEO marketing plan is regular monitoring of your SEO metrics. So, the first thing you need to do is confirm that your SEO ranking drop is real and not just a temporary fluctuation, and the best way to do this is with your usual SEO monitoring tools. Your first stop should always be to check Google Search Console, where you can verify your ranking and organic search traffic.
Again, there is nothing unusual about fluctuations in traffic over time — so don’t start panicking if you see a drop from one day to the next. Instead, plot your weekly SEO traffic over the last 6-12 months and calculate the average deviation in traffic from that. If you are using Google Analytics and other web analytics and enterprise SEO tools such as SEMRush, Ahrefs and others — now is the time to check those too.
Compare the different sets of data. If they align and still show a dramatic drop, it is time to move on to the next item.
#2. Review rank tracker tools
Online digital marketing experts will tell you again and again that your SEO strategy lives and dies by keywords. From blog posts to content pages, meta descriptions and even image descriptions — smart SEO marketers will find ways to work relevant keywords into every aspect of your website without resorting to keyword stuffing.
They will conduct in-depth keyword research to find the best combination of relevant and types of keywords to help with your organic SEO and to identify a handful of high-performance but low-competition keywords for you to target. These niche keywords are usually what your SEO strategy is built on and the ones that you should use rank tracker tools to keep an eye on. Checking their status is the next step in identifying how serious your SEO ranking drop is.
Source: Ahrefs
Sometimes one of your principal keywords will suddenly decline in popularity. For example, Google Adwords changing its name to Google Ads caused dramatic shifts in the rankings of several online marketing agencies. If your reports show a consistent downward trend for an important keyword your SEO strategy uses, add it to a list of corrective actions you need to take once you’ve completed this checklist.
Use an SEO competitor analysis when reviewing your rank tracker reports. You noticed an SEO ranking drop, but did any of your competitors also lose places? Look at the pages whose Google rankings have improved for the keywords you’re tracking. Have they recently updated their page, and what elements of their site differ from yours (e.g. video content, longer articles, meta descriptions, etc.)? Add your notes to that list of corrective actions.
#3. Are your pages still indexed?
Many people misunderstand how exactly Google search works. They think they type in a query, hit Enter and Google sends out a little army of search bots to find the relevant content and bring it to them. But that’s not quite accurate. Google works with an index, which is something you may have seen at the back of an encyclopaedia before.
This index is a list of specific words and the page numbers where you will find them. But not every word in the whole encyclopaedia will be indexed — just those that they think are the most important. Google does the same thing with websites, except that the ‘page numbers’ are URLs. This is important because you can specifically instruct Google not to index your website or just certain pages on it.
So, your next step is to check if Google is still indexing your website. The URL inspection tool in Google Search Console can also tell you the current index status of a specific URL and why Google could or couldn’t index that page. If an outside agency is managing your SEO and website and you don’t have access to your Google Analytics or Google Search Console data, there is no need to worry.
You can cheat a little by using a Google search trick known as a “site:” search. Simply type ‘site:yourdomain.com’ (or the appropriate domain extension for your site such as .com.au or co.uk, etc.). The results should return pages from your website, which will tell you that your site is being indexed.
To confirm that the page you’re specifically concerned about is still being indexed, use the site search qualifier, then type a short phrase from the page inside apostrophes so that Google searches for that exact phrase. For example ‘site:onlinemarketinggurus.com.au “What is SEO?”’ should bring up this exact article.
There are a variety of ways to stop Google from indexing a website or page, so read this article to find out how to check if you’ve accidentally turned that setting on.
#4. Can bots crawl your site?
This is directly related to the indexing we discussed above. Search engines and some other services use little bits of programming known as bots to search your site and add relevant snippets to their indexes. One of the ways that you can prevent your content from being indexed is by blocking Googlebot (and other search engines) from being able to crawl your website.
We mentioned that bots are effectively tiny little programs, which means that they respond to code — and the vast majority of websites have an otherwise innocuous little file labelled “robots.txt”. This file holds the code or instructions that tell any bots who visit your site what they are and aren’t allowed to do. While malicious bots ignore these instructions, Googlebot does not.
So, the next step is checking that bots are still allowed to crawl your website, especially the page or pages on which your SEO rankings have dropped.
#5. What status code do your pages return?
A fundamental building block of how the internet works is something called HTTP, or rather HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure). This protocol is how your website sends data from the server where it is hosted to the device that your visitor is using to access it. For a long time, HTTP was the standard, but Google now forces the use of the more secure HTTPS protocol because it’s safer for their users.
You may have encountered a 404-error page in your browsing before, which tells you that the link you just tried to visit doesn’t exist. This can happen for several reasons, including the original page being deleted or the URL being changed as part of an updated SEO strategy. There are other error codes you may have come across, but what you won’t have seen is the HTTPS 200 OK response code.
This is the code that the HTTPS protocol uses to indicate that whatever request you have just made succeeded. So, you click on a link, and it takes you to a page, the page loads, and you can see it on your device — that’s a successful request and returns the 200 code. Every page on your website should return a 200 code (yes, even your 404 Error page!).
Several free online tools like httpstatus.io can be used to check the HTTP status codes that your website is returning, sometimes with additional features and benefits. Keep an eye out for any pages with 3xx (e.g., 301 – redirect), 4xx (e.g., 404 – not valid) and 5xx (e.g., 503 – unavailable) errors.
Top reasons for your SEO ranking drop
We will continue this guide on the assumption that you confirmed your SEO rank drop, that you corrected any practical issues you found in the checks above and that your positions in Google’s search results are still down after you’ve waited 24 hours for them to take effect. Because while the following items don’t necessarily involve complicated fixes — these problems are always as quick to check and remedy.
If you haven’t done it by now, this is the time to scope the impact of your rankings drop. The specific search queries and pages affected by a ranking drop can help identify the underlying issue a lot easier. You will need the data from Google Search Console and Google Analytics, Bing Webmaster Tools, other web analytics platforms that you use and your rank tracking application to do this.
Make a list of all the search queries that have dropped and, using a spreadsheet, add the following information:
The URL that was ranking for that query (if multiple pages were ranking for the same query, then list them separately)
- The keyword/search cluster the query belongs to
- Their old ranking (so you can establish a baseline)
- Their new ranking
- The difference between the two ranks
- The content type that was ranking (article, video content, landing pages, etc.)
- Whether the page is indexable
- Any other comments that may be useful (such as the date a page was updated)
By laying the information out like this, you will be able to see if there is a pattern to the drop in rankings. Now it is time to start looking into some common reasons why your Google SEO ranking drop happened so quickly.
#1. Site changes or migration
Any major changes to your website can, and often do, cause serious drops in your ranking. If you’re the only one managing content for your website, keeping track of any changes or updates you made is relatively simple. However, if you make major changes across your entire site in a short period or there’s a whole team responsible for your content — things can get a little trickier.
This is why change tracking and strong governance are important elements of a sound SEO strategy. Sometimes making changes is unavoidable. For example, if your company undergoes a rebrand, then all the visual content on your website will need to be updated to match it. In addition, you might have to update your internal links because you’ve migrated your website to a different CMS or because of a change in your SEO strategy.
Google will treat these updated links as though it has never seen them before, and it will take some time before they are reindexed. You probably won’t get your old ranking back for some time, though, as factors like link profile also play a role in your search position.
Search engines are using the content on your website to determine your relevancy for different search queries, so even the smallest change can have a big impact on your rankings. Removing a page entirely can have an even bigger impact.
#2. Google algorithm update
One of the largest causes of SEO ranking drop and ranking fluctuations in general is Google itself. They are constantly tweaking and perfecting their search algorithms, rolling out one to two small changes every single day. These small updates are behind what some refer to as Google Flux but have very little to no impact on SEO rankings in the long term.
Google Core Updates are a whole other story, though. These tend to happen every few months and can often spark months’ worth of discussion and advice as webmasters and SEO agency experts prepare for the coming changes. Some Google algorithm updates that have led to massive changes in SEO strategies and caused a dramatic Google SEO ranking drop for top-performing sites across the board include:
- Google Penguin algorithm update in 2012 — the first update to penalise people for “over-optimisation” or black hat SEO tactics such as keyword stuffing and unnatural linking.
- Fred update in 2017 — the first update aimed at giving users more relevant search results, it seemed to target mostly low-value content.
- BERT update in 2019 — the ‘biggest update to Google search in 5 years’, BERT is a deep learning algorithm related to natural language processing and was the first time that search intent became more important than search phrases.
- Google’s Page experience update in 2021 — also referred to as the Core Web Vitals update, this change made the user experience a ranking factor with a heavy focus on responsiveness, load speed and stability of websites and pages.
#3. Manual search engine penalty
Did you get penalised by Google? A manual search engine penalty happens when one of the human reviewers at Google has determined that a page or pages on your website don’t comply with Google’s webmaster quality guidelines. While this is one of the most dreaded reasons for a drop in rankings, it is also one of the least likely to happen to the vast majority of websites.
You will get a notification in Google Search Console if a manual action is ever taken against your website though, so identifying this as the reason for a rankings drop is easy. The only way to resolve this issue is to fix the problem(s) flagged by the Google team and then submit your website for review. Before you do this, save yourself some uncertainty by checking your site against Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines (documentation used by the testing team).
It is not as necessary, but it wouldn’t hurt to check your site against their Webmaster Guidelines as well. But once submitted, all you can do is wait for your changes to be reviewed and approved. The process can take days or weeks; in some cases, the affected content may not recover until the next broad core update, which tends to happen every few months.
#4. Competitor changes causing them to outrank you in Google
It is important to realise that sometimes you can do absolutely everything right and still be knocked down one or two places in rankings. But when the typical CTR of the second position in Google is less than half the CTR of the first position, that one-place drop can represent a massive loss in visitors and, by extension, a massive loss in revenue.
The only thing you can do when this happens is to conduct an in-depth analysis of the competitor that has taken your place, work out what they are doing differently from you and update your own SEO strategy with what you’ve learned. Sometimes you will be able to recover your former rank, and other times you will have to shift your efforts to one of the other pages that you’re currently ranking well for but have room for improvement.
#5. Lost backlinks
Whether you’re involved in marketing or not, you know what word of mouth is. You know the value that you put in the opinions of others (especially close friends and family), so does every marketer under the sun, and so does Google. So you can think of backlinks as a kind of word-of-mouth referral to your website from another website.
Websites with strong backlink profiles from credible sources are considered authorities on the subject in question, so their link profile and ranking improve. Even smaller websites with a limited backlink portfolio can get a boost in rankings if a website that Google considers an authority links to them. But if you lose that backlink, it can impact your ranking quite drastically at times.
There isn’t always a whole lot you can do about losing a quality backlink, but it never hurts to reach out to the webmaster and find out if there is anything you can do to get that link back. If not then you need a new link building strategy.
#6. User behaviour and search intent changes requiring content updates
We mentioned the BERT update already, which is where Google changed from trying to match the exact phrase someone searched to trying to match their search intent. For example, searching for “top restaurant in Sydney” used to return search results from websites where that exact phrase had been used somewhere in the content — whether in a review, a blog post, home page or elsewhere.
Thanks to BERT, Google will now identify that the user who typed that query is conducting a sort of investigation and is most likely looking for 5 start reviews, some great customer testimonials and comparisons of restaurants in the Sydney area. So, it will provide results from sites such as Trip Advisor, a popular local food blogger, news articles on foodie awards and similar — whether it mentions “top restaurant in Sydney” or not. Below is an example of the BERT update in action for the search query “can you get medicine for someone pharmacy”.
Source: Google
Search intent is still a relatively new field. While Google says user behaviour is not a ranking metric, CTRs are a good way to determine if your website matches the usual intent of a specific search query. This won’t be a quick fix, and you may find that you need to tweak your titles and meta descriptions, so your website looks the most relevant. Using schema markup to enhance featured snippets with rich elements can also be helpful here.
#7. Mobile-first indexing
The days of having to make a note to look something up at the library or when you get to the office because you don’t have a PC or home internet are long gone. Instead, these days you can Google the price of eggs in China while sitting at the North Pole, assuming you had cell coverage. In fact, by 2021, mobile browsing represented 66% of global searches.
So, Google switching to a mobile-first indexing system makes perfect sense. They want their users to have the best experience, and most of those users use mobile devices to access their services. Therefore, they should prioritise search results from websites that are optimised to provide the best possible experience on mobile.
This means that your rankings will suffer if you haven’t built your website using the mobile-first indexing best practices that Google recommends.
#8. Google SERP changes
Updates to Google’s Core search algorithm are common, as we explained. But not every update they roll out has to do with ranking factors. Instead, some of them are more aesthetic or designed to make using Google an easier process for searchers. Just think how different the SERPs you see today are from just a few years ago.
Where before, we might see a few Text Ads followed by organic search results, now the top of Google’s SERP can include images, Featured Snippets, knowledge graphs, and a whole lot more. What this means is that being the number one result in organic search doesn’t necessarily mean your site is listed at the top of the page. This is why many rank tracking tools today offer pixel tracking alongside their usual tools.
This measures the number of pixels between the top of the page and your URL listing. Around 300px down the page means searchers can see your result without scrolling. However, some searches will place the number two result as much as 1700px down the page — or below the fold. As a result, the difference in CTR between the first-ranked and second-ranked positions is extreme, dropping to what would technically be the last or second last position even more so.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much you can do about this except try to make sure that your page is the source of that query featured snippet and all the other rich content that Google provides searchers with today.
#9. Technical issues, i.e. Core Web Vitals
User experience has been an important part of comprehensive SEO strategies for some time. When studies show that as much as 88% of visitors will never return to a website where they’ve had a bad user experience — ignoring UX would be foolish. And the Core Web Vitals update is all about Google taking this very real statistic into account.
Source: Yottaa
By adding User Experience to their ranking factors, they’re guaranteeing that searchers will never have to deal with slow page speeds, content that shifts all over the place as they scroll and other irritations that ruin the mobile experience. Unless they’re one of the less than 1% of people who actually scroll the second page of search results, that is.
Making sure you meet Core Web Vitals minimum standards is easy and complicated. Easy if you’ve been using a user-centric approach from the beginning, complicated if you have to update large swaths of your website before it is compliant. And frustrating because those necessary updates may cause more of an SEO ranking drop while Google reindexes your new content.
Recover from an SEO ranking drop with help from qualified experts
Almost everyone who is serious about online marketing and their website will experience a Google SEO ranking drop at some point. It might result from an “algo slap” (i.e., search engine crawlers determine your site doesn’t meet certain criteria) or a manual Google penalty because something went very wrong, such as your site being hacked and used for nefarious purposes by malicious actors.
Google updates their search algorithms daily, rolling out major updates every few months. Even SEO marketers with years of experience make mistakes and don’t always manage to stay ahead of all the changes in ranking methodology. Never mind tracking how those new rules and standards will impact every page on a website that has taken years to build.
The hope, of course, is that an extreme drop in your Google ranking is only temporary and won’t cause significant harm, financial or otherwise, to your company while it recovers. But one small silver lining of this situation is the opportunity it presents to learn more about the SEO industry and implement ways to secure your website against am SEO ranking drop in the future.
Guide To Some Of The Most Common Search Engine Optimisation / SEO Mistakes
Many times, businesses see an SEO Ranking Drop that was caused due to a mistake in the SEO approach. SEO or search engine optimisation is key to getting your business noticed online, but it’s easy to stumble into common mistakes that can hurt your website’s performance. This guide to SEO mistakes highlights these pitfalls and offers practical solutions to avoid them.
For starters, what are errors in SEO?
Errors in SEO refer to mistakes or issues that can negatively affect the performance of a website in search engine rankings. These errors can prevent search engines from properly crawling, indexing, and understanding your content, which can hinder your website’s visibility in search results and cause a significant SEO ranking drop. Identifying and fixing SEO mistakes is crucial for maintaining a healthy website and ensuring it ranks well.
Why is it crucial to fix SEO mistakes right away?
Fixing SEO mistakes as soon as they are identified is crucial because errors can cause an SEO ranking drop and negatively impact your website’s visibility, and user experience. Issues such as broken links, slow load times, or incorrect redirects can result in poor search engine rankings and lost traffic. Addressing these mistakes promptly ensures that your site remains competitive, maintains a strong user experience, and optimizes performance, leading to better search engine results and higher conversion rates.
What are some of the most common SEO mistakes?
Here are some examples of common types of SEO mistakes and errors people make:
- 404 Errors (Page Not Found): This occurs when a page on your website is missing or deleted, and users or search engines encounter a “404” error when trying to access it. These broken links can harm your site’s user experience and SEO performance. Redirecting 404 pages to relevant pages or restoring the original content can help resolve this error.
- Duplicate Content: This error happens when the same or very similar content appears on multiple pages of your website or on different websites. Search engines may struggle to determine which version of the content to rank, and this can result in lower rankings for all affected pages. Using canonical tags and ensuring each page has unique content can help prevent this.
- Missing Meta Tags (Title & Description): Meta tags like titles and descriptions provide search engines with information about your content. If these tags are missing, duplicate, or poorly written, it can negatively impact your rankings and click-through rates (CTR). Ensuring each page has a unique, descriptive title and meta description is important for good SEO.
- Broken Internal Links: Internal links are links that point to other pages within your own website. If any of these links are broken (e.g., they lead to non-existent pages), it can create a poor user experience and negatively affect your site’s crawlability. Regularly checking and fixing broken internal links is vital for a healthy SEO structure.
- Slow Page Load Speed: If your website takes too long to load, it can lead to higher bounce rates and lower user satisfaction, which can negatively impact your SEO. Google and other search engines consider page speed as a ranking factor. Optimizing images, reducing the number of plugins, and leveraging caching can improve load times.
- Mobile Usability Issues: With mobile-first indexing becoming the norm, it’s essential that your website is fully optimized for mobile devices. Errors such as text that is too small to read, buttons that are hard to click, or pages that don’t load properly on mobile devices can harm your rankings. Ensuring your website is mobile-friendly is crucial for good SEO.
- Missing Alt Text for Images: Search engines can’t “see” images, so they rely on alt text to understand what each image is about. If your images lack descriptive alt text, you may be missing out on potential SEO benefits, especially for image search rankings. Always use relevant, descriptive alt text for your images.
- Incorrect Redirects (301/302): Redirects tell search engines and users when a page has been moved to a new location. Incorrect or improperly set up redirects can lead to SEO issues, such as loss of link equity or crawling issues. Using 301 redirects (permanent redirects) properly can preserve your SEO value.
- Thin Content: Thin content refers to pages with very little original or valuable information. Pages that are deemed low-quality or lack substance may be penalized by search engines. Creating comprehensive, well-researched content is key to preventing thin content errors.
- Poor URL Structure: URLs that are too long, contain unnecessary characters, or lack relevant keywords can hinder SEO performance. Simple, descriptive, and keyword-optimized URLs help search engines understand the content of your page and improve rankings.
Why Fixing SEO Mistakes and Errors Matters:
Addressing errors in SEO is essential. By addressing the issues, you can stop any SEO ranking drop and hopefully improve your website’s visibility, user experience, and overall performance in search engines. Fixing errors can lead to better crawlability, higher rankings, more organic traffic, and increased conversions. Regularly auditing your website and correcting errors is an ongoing process that contributes to long-term SEO success.
By identifying and resolving SEO mistakes, you ensure your website is fully optimized and prepared to perform well in search rankings.
Below we will discuss 17 of the more common mistakes in see SEO
1. Skipping keyword research
Why is keyword research so important? Jumping into content creation without thorough keyword research is a big SEO mistake. It can result in targeting the wrong keywords or missing out on the search terms your potential customers are using.
Example: Imagine you run a bakery and start writing blog posts about “baking techniques” without checking if people are actually searching for that term. You might miss out on more popular searches like “how to make sourdough bread” or “best gluten-free cookies recipe”.
Solution: Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs or Semrush to find the right keywords for your industry. Focus on long-tail keywords, as they are usually less competitive and more specific to your niche. Keep your keyword list updated to match market trends and user search behaviour.
Guide To Some Of The Most Common Search Engine Optimisation / SEO Mistakes
2. Ignoring on-page SEO
Neglecting on-page SEO elements like title tags, meta descriptions and image alt text can reduce your content’s visibility on search engines.
Example: If your website’s pages have generic title tags like “Home” or “About Us”, search engines and users won’t know what specific information the page contains, leading to lower search rankings and fewer clicks.
Solution: Ensure every page on your site has unique, descriptive title tags and meta descriptions that include your main keywords. Use header tags (H1, H2, H3) to organise your content and naturally incorporate keywords. Add alt text to images to help search engines categorise your content better.
3. Creating low-quality content
Google’s growing focus on expertise, experience, authoritativeness and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) highlights the need to create high quality content that showcases your credibility and authority in your industry. Producing content just to have something on your site, rather than offering value to your audience, can damage your SEO efforts.
Example: Writing a blog post filled with fluff and lacking real information just to hit a word count can turn readers away and increase your bounce rate, negatively impacting your SEO.
Solution: Focus on creating high-quality, informative and engaging content that meets your audience’s needs and interests. Analyse competitors to see what works well in your niche and aim to provide even better up-to-date information.
4. Neglecting mobile optimisation
With most users accessing websites via mobile devices, overlooking mobile is a big SEO mistake that can lead to a poor user experience and lower rankings on mobile searches.
Example: If your website is designed only for desktop users, it might look cluttered or be hard to navigate on a smartphone, causing visitors to leave quickly.
Solution: Implement a responsive design to ensure your website looks and functions well across devices. Use Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test tool to identify and fix any mobile usability issues. Optimise images and reduce file sizes to boost page load speed on mobile devices.
5. Ignoring technical SEO
Overlooking technical SEO aspects such as site speed optimisation, broken links and crawl errors can prevent search engines from properly indexing your site.
Example: A website with slow loading times, broken links or inaccessible pages can frustrate users and cause search engines to rank it lower.
Solution: Regularly audit your website using tools like Google Search Console, Screaming Frog or Ahrefs. Fix any broken links, optimise site speed by compressing images and leveraging browser caching for search engines to crawl and index.
6. Having poor internal linking structure
Failing to implement a strategic internal linking structure can hinder your site’s navigability and reduce the authority passed between pages.
Example: If your blog posts and pages are not linked to each other, visitors may have a hard time finding related content and search engines may not see the connection between your pages.
Solution: Create a better internal linking strategy by linking related content together. Use descriptive anchor text that includes relevant keywords.
7. Not using analytics
Without monitoring your SEO performance, you won’t know what’s working and what’s not, leading to missed opportunities for improvement.
Example: If you don’t track your website’s traffic or conversion rates, you might continue investing in ineffective SEO strategies.
Solution: Set up Google Analytics and Google Search Console to track your site’s performance. Monitor data such as organic traffic, bounce rate and conversion rate. Use this data to refine your SEO strategy and make informed decisions.
8. Keyword stuffing
Using too many keywords in web content leads to a poor user experience and penalties from search engines.
Example: A blog post that contains so many instances of the same keyword — and placed unnaturally throughout the text — can be hard to read and may be flagged as spam.
Solution: Focus on writing natural, readable content that is useful to your audience. Use keywords strategically and sparingly, ensuring they make sense in your text. Aim for a keyword density of around 1-2%.
9. Ignoring local SEO
Businesses with a physical presence should never neglect local SEO. Otherwise they will be missing out on valuable local search traffic.
Example: A local pizza restaurant that doesn’t do web-page optimisation for local search and “near me” terms might not appear in search results when people look for “best pizza near me”.
Solution: Optimise your Google My Business listing by ensuring your NAP (name, address, phone number) information is accurate and consistent. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews. Also, include local keywords in your content and meta tags.
10. Not building quality backlinks
Relying on low-quality or spammy backlinks can harm your site’s credibility and search engine rankings.
Example: Participating in link farms or buying cheap backlinks can reduce your site’s visibility.
Solution: Focus on building high-quality backlinks and creating a strong link profile from reputable sites within your industry. Guest blogging, influencer collaborations and content marketing are effective strategies for acquiring quality backlinks. Regularly check your backlink profile and get rid of harmful links.
11. Ignoring user experience (UX)
Poor user experience, such as difficult navigation, slow load times and intrusive pop-ups, can lead to high bounce rates and lower rankings.
Example: A website with a cluttered layout and slow-loading pages can frustrate visitors, causing them to leave quickly and harming your SEO.
Solution: Prioritise user experience by ensuring your site is easy to navigate, loads quickly and offers valuable content. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to find and fix performance issues. Implement a clean, user-friendly design and avoid disruptive elements like excessive pop-ups.
12. Not using schema markup
Failing to use schema markup can result in missed opportunities for enhanced search engine results, such as featured snippets.
Example: Without schema markup, your product pages might not show additional information like ratings and prices in search results, missing out on potential clicks.
Solution: Implement schema markup on your site to help search engines understand your content better and provide enhanced results. Use Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to add schema markup to your pages.
13. Posting or having duplicate content;
Having duplicate content on your site can confuse search engines and dilute your page authority.
Example: If your blog and product pages contain the same descriptions or articles, search engines might struggle to determine which version to prioritise.
Solution: Use tools like Copyscape to identify and eliminate duplicate content. Check that each page on your site has unique, high-quality content. If you need to have similar content, use canonical tags to indicate the preferred version to search engines.
14. Neglecting voice search optimisation
Ignoring the rising trend of voice search can result in missing out on potential traffic from users of voice assistants like Siri, Alexa or Google Assistant.
Example: If your content isn’t optimised for voice search, users asking “Where can I find the best pizza near me?” might not find your website in the search results.
Solution: Optimise your content for voice search by focusing on natural language and long-tail keywords. Answer FAQs in a conversational tone and use structured data to improve your chances of appearing in voice search results.
15. Not updating old content
Allowing your content to become outdated can negatively impact your site’s relevance and rankings.
Example: An old blog post with outdated statistics or information can turn visitors away and lower your search rankings.
Solution: Regularly update your content to ensure it remains accurate and relevant. Add new information and refresh statistics to improve the page’s relevance. Republishing updated content can also give it a fresh boost in search rankings.
16. Improper use of redirects
Using too many 302 or 301 redirects can slow down your website and lead to indexing issues with search engines.
Example: If your site has numerous outdated pages all redirecting to new ones, it can create a convoluted path for search engines and users, leading to slower load times and potential indexing issues.
Solution: Use redirects sparingly and appropriately. Use 301 redirects for permanent changes and 302 redirects for temporary ones. Check your redirects to ensure they’re functioning correctly.
17. Ignoring user intent
Creating content that doesn’t align with the user’s search intent can result in high bounce rates and low engagement.
Example: If you target a keyword like “best running shoes” but your content only lists different brands without detailed reviews or buying guides, users looking for comprehensive information might leave your site quickly.
Solution: Understand and address the different types of user intent. Informational intent seeks knowledge or information, navigational intent aims to find a specific website or page and transactional intent focuses on completing a purchase or action.
By addressing these additional common SEO pitfalls, you can mitigate an SEO ranking drop, further strengthen your website’s performance and improve your search engine rankings. Continuously monitor your SEO efforts and adapt your strategy to maintain a competitive edge.
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