Everyone wants their potential customers to be able to find their business online. In fact, with at least 75% of clicks taking place on the first page of Google, it’s more important than ever to avoid making these 5 mistakes which can negatively impact your search results.

1. Not Selecting High Search Volume Keywords to Target

Sure you might’ve spent time thinking of keywords that relate to your industry; however, that’s only 1 step in creating your keyword strategy. Take the keywords you find are most valuable to your business, and plug them into a site such as Google’s Keyword Planner. Keyword Planner will help you identify which words your consumers are using to find businesses like yours, and can help you identify which terms have the lowest competition, making them easier to rank for.

2. Not Evaluating Your Competitor’s Keywords

You should use tools such as those offered on third party sites like SEM Rush to find out what keywords your competitors are ranking for and include the applicable words in your strategy.

For more on conducting a competitor analysis on your site, “How to do a Quick Competitor Analysis to See Where You Stand on Google”

3. Deleting Key Pages on Your Website

Deleting key pages result in 404 Errors, also known as “Not Found” errors. Deleted pages can negatively  impact your search results for several reasons. If a user arrives on a 404 page, it can negatively impact user experience on your site so Google is inclined to penalize pages that have been 404’d. Search engines such as Google care greatly about user experience so anything you can do to improve their perception of your website matters.

4. Making Major Changes To Your Website without Consulting an SEO Expert

Making big changes to your website all at once (i.e., with a site redesign, or by deleting a lot of pages) can really drop your rankings. Make sure you consult with an SEO agency before making a huge mistake that could negatively impact your search results.

Also see, “Top 9 Mistakes You can Make with a New Website or a Site Redesign.”

5. You Aren’t Including Blogs in Your Digital Marketing Strategy

According to HubSpot, you can drive 3X more traffic to your website just by writing 16 or more blogs per month. Not only do blogs help internet users find your business, they can also help with sales. In fact, 61% of U.S. online consumers have made a purchase based on a recommendation from a blog (Source).

For more information on blogging, see: “Why an Effective Blog Strategy Matters to Your Business and What You Should’ve been Doing Yesterday.”

Optimizing your website for search is extremely important for your business. If you have more questions about how you can help your website get better search results, or if you’d like the experts at Organically to provide you with a free website analysis, simply click to chat on our website!