Top 6 SEO Mistakes To Avoid (2020): Did you know that Google can make your blog disappear from search results as a punishment for SEO mistakes? One day, you get a nice, small stream of free traffic for a few of your posts. No, this is nothing special, but it grows with every new post, and you see Google becoming the primary source of traffic for the blog. But, suddenly, it stops. Poof, every post and article on your blog fades into obscurity.
No warnings, no alarm calls, nothing. Where am I? Who am I? You were never there. This is what it means to disappear from search results. And the worst part? You do not understand the reason and turn your head from side to side, unable to understand the disaster scale.
It seems like the most reputable and worst bully on the internet decided to beat the shit out of you, leaving you whimpering and bleeding, wondering what the hell you did wrong.
It happens all the time. Do you think this will never happen to your blog because you are smart, cunning, and well-mannered?
Naive conceit. People who have been blogging for years run into this swamp and then, with losses, break out of the tenacious embrace of search filters.
Here’s what the world-famous American blogger – paralytic John Morrow says, I also got blacklisted by Google. When I started my first Real Estate with Answers blog about seven years ago, Google blacklisted it. One day I was on the front page with the term “real estate investment,” gaining several hundred visitors a day, and the next day my site just disappeared. I could still access it by entering the URL, but the constant search traffic got stopped completely.
After knowing what I know now, I deserved it, but at the time, I felt like a victim of a robbery. I just spent three months and hundreds of hours writing six or more articles on real estate investment, but Google erased all of that effort instantly. Why?
Well, I can’t know for sure, but that happened because I was paying guys in the Philippines to put my site on a bunch of bad link directories. John Morrow also started selling text links on my site – another big no-no. I did not have any better knowing at the time. He thought that everything I did was completely legal. With Google, ignorance is no excuse. Every time You break the rules, you pay for the consequences, end of the story.
That is why it is so important to know what the rules are.
Top 6 SEO Mistakes To Avoid (2020)
- Buying links
- Registration in the “left” catalogs
- Article Marketing
- Overflowing text with keywords
- Unnatural anchor text
- Broken links
The ranking algorithm is changing and improving. Every day and on an ongoing basis. The daily settings are changed in an attempt to pinch spammers and filter out low-quality content. Every day they adjust their algorithms to catch unscrupulous webmasters. Updates are continually coming out, the Himalayan mountains’ size, which entails moving sites in the search results. Result? What works today may not work tomorrow. It might even hurt you. Previously, Google did not penalize small offenses, and penalties for SEO errors were not sensitive. Yes, they kept the benefits, but the rating remained at the same level, and the chance of disappearing from the search was zero.
That happy time is gone. Now Google has got a whip. Even if you don’t make a mistake big enough to be blacklisted, you’ll see your SERPs drop overnight if your steps go in the wrong direction. The subdivision is possible for dozens of positions and pages. Santa Claus will not bring you a rod and will not pour coal into your Christmas sock, but Puff – puff – puff and work on the blog went down the drain. Puff – puff – puff and start from scratch. The roster is constantly changing, but here are six sins for which there is a chance to get on this naughty list.
1. Buying links
When you advertise from SEO- Firms who promise mountain of gold and giving promises to make your blog in the first place in Google, I know you’ve seen her. You are pledged to hundreds of links, blog posts, and ocean waves of traffic. And that’s just for a small fee. 100% you have seen these offers. Well, ignore them. Here’s why: Almost always, links come from spam sites with a dubious reputation and social media.
Getting a link from them is like going to an interview with a letter of recommendation from a well-known drug dealer. There is a recommendation, but the reputation suffers. It doesn’t matter how smart they are. It doesn’t matter how advanced and how long they have been on the internet.
Some of these companies claim that Google will never find them because all spam links point to an intermediate page, creating a “link wheel.”
Presumably, this is to protect you. It might even work for a while. The problem is, remember when you said that Google is continually evolving? Even if they didn’t don’t catch you today, they are guaranteed to see you in the future. This has always been the case. And so it will be. Best policy? Don’t buy (or sell) links. This is the first point of the Top 6 SEO Mistakes To Avoid 2020. Keep reading.
2. Registration in the “left” catalogs
When you plan to submit a blog or an article to a directory, I can ask questions such as “ is the directory discarding the URLs? If every submitted URL(Unique Resource Link) passes the validation after submission, then the guide or directory becomes more like a place where you can find regularly submitted links or a public link site where everyone can submit URLs. “Another question comes to mind that what will be the quality of the submitted URL in the directory?”
The directory site does reject twenty-five percent of the submissions, but the URLs which got accepted or listed are still relatively low quality or spam. “If the targeted directory is taking a fee to access, then what is the main purpose of the fee taken. A directory with a collection of high-quality links will always charge a fee because someone had given his time to evaluate all the directory’s submitted URLs. Matt Cutts, on behalf of Google.com.
The link directories are one of the most misunderstood parts of SEO. They were once an integral part of any new website launch campaign. You can submit your blog to DMOZ.org and several industries referenced directories, and you will quickly increase your search rankings. And that makes sense, right? If your blog is about surfing, it makes sense to be included in all surfing link directories.
Well, here’s the problem: Google views the web as being made up of “neighborhoods.” If your blog is or articles frequently mentioned next to trusted, authoritative sites, then you are part of the “good neighborhood.” You are married or unmarried, having children, and regularly pay taxes and write letters to your mother. If all of your links come from pages that link to thousands of unnecessary sites, on the other hand, you are part of a “bad neighborhood.”
Brawler, the bully, and chronic alcoholic, rolled into one. What do you think are the links in the directories? Bad ones, right? Since anyone can submit a site, most link directories become nothing more than a garbage store. Even if your blog is entirely legitimate, you are guilty by association. Nobody forced you to be friends with the local gang, but you did it, and you won’t wait for an award until the end of the century. It does not mean that all link directories are wrong.
If you submit your blog to a targeted directory verified by an actual person to make sure all the listed sites are top-notch, you can still benefit from it because other valuable sites surround you. As in life, you are the one with whom you communicate.
3. Article Marketing
Have you ever heard of Article marketing? This was in vogue around 2008. The core idea is that you can write an article, “spin” several versions of it, make small changes to the wording, and then submit those versions to different websites that collect free articles or blogs in exchange for a backlink to your website. And it worked before.
At the time, many search results were dominated by sites like E-Zine Articles and Article Base. It is an essential thing of the past. Yes, many people are still in article marketing, but this is a dying technique. Here’s why: Remember, we mentioned that Google is always getting smarter?
Well, the reason article marketing has been so popular is that you can take one of your blog posts, rework it into five different variations, and get dozens of links per post.
Google views the various options as unique articles, which means there are no duplicate content penalties. However, their algorithm got better and better over the years when searching for articles with slight variations. Articles that used to be rated positively for years are now plummeting because Google recognizes them for what they are – spam.
That does not mean that writing for other sites is a bad idea. In particular, guest blogging is one of the most effective ways to create and develop a popular blog.
It is because you are writing unique content for a trusted site surrounded by dozens of other authorities. On the other hand, article marketing attempts to trick Google by duplicating content for suspicious sites filled with articles written by no one. Once again, you are guilty by association.
4. Overflowing text with keyword
Let’s get a little more technical. This point of Top 6 SEO Mistakes To Avoid 2020 is very crucial and important to understand well.
If you are unfamiliar with the term, “keyword filling” means repeatedly using a keyword in your content, hoping that it will give you a better ranking.
For example, let’s say you want to get a rating for “chocolate chip cookies.” Below is the perfect example of what the keyword fill will look like:
“The chocolate chip cookies are so delicious! I’m going to teach you my grandma’s chocolate chip cookie recipe on how to make the best choco-chip cookie you have ever tasted. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe makes almost two dozen chocolate chip cookies.”
An entire blog post would go on like this, using the keyword “chocolate chip cookies” dozens or even hundreds of times. Never mind that the language is so unnatural that we hardly read it. This is optimized text, baby! It’s also silly. Here’s why: Keyword density is only a small part of Google’s algorithm.
Nobody knows for sure how much, but what is known suggests less than 5%. Next to more important factors like domain authority and authoritative inbound links, this makes little difference. And if you wish to go too far, it can hurt you. Google’s primary concern is the user experience. If all found articles are filled with keywords, Nobody wants to read them, and everyone stops using Google to search the web.
They will never let this happen, and some SEO experts think they actively punish it. But let’s say no. Even if you avoid being flogged, who do you think will link to such content? Nobody with any authority. And since links are an essential part of the algorithm, you are doomed to be ignored forever. Good advice? Don’t think about keyword research in the first year of your blog. Just focus on posting excellent content and getting as many links as possible.
Then, once your blog is empowered, go back, and tweak the keywords in your most popular posts without making them sound even with the smallest fake notes. Yes, you may lose some opportunities, but your chances of building a reputable site will be much, much better.
5. Unnatural Anchor Text
If you are not familiar with the term anchor text, it refers to the text within a link. So this phrase – “anchor text” in this sentence, is an “anchor text.” When Google is deciding on what criteria to rank your pages, anchor text is one of the places it looks for clues.
For example, if a group of people refers to one of your posts with “web hosting prices” as anchor text, the chances are that the post is talking about how much web hosting costs. And not about how to make money on the stock exchange or make a logo for Instagram. So surprise, surprise, people try to play the system.
They build links using some of the untrustworthy techniques outlined above and use the terms they want to rank in Google for as anchor text in the hopes that this will increase their chances of ranking. But how natural does it look? Not everyone will use the same anchor text when they link to you.
Some of the links you receive may have shorter anchor text such as “price,” related phrases such as “best value web hosting plans,” or even just a regular URL with no anchor text. Using the similar/same anchor text in all of your links, you tell Google that you are trying to trick the system. And chances are, you will be fined at some point.
6. Broken links
“Check broken links and fix HTML.” – Google.
Last but not least, of Top 6 SEO Mistakes To Avoid 2020, the meanest of all is broken links. Over time, almost all bloggers will accumulate links that don’t work longer. Other sites die, move, and do restructure all the time. Blogs fail and shut down, causing the page you initially linked to disappearing.
The question is that if broken links are so natural, why is Google punishing you for those broken links? Once think about it from their perspective: Which page is most likely more relevant: one with the five broken links or one with zero? Also, which page provides the best user experience? The first, of course.
So, all things being equal, a page without broken links is likely to outperform a page with broken links. But don’t worry, because all the other factors are rarely similar. Like many of the different algorithm variables we’re talking about here, broken links are a bit of a nuisance.
However, it is a sin that can be easily atoned. If the total number of blog posts on your site is relatively low, a simple audit of your blog can shed light on dead links you weren’t aware of. Once or twice a year, go to Google Webmaster Tools and fix any broken links it gives you. You may do notice a slight jump in the rankings of some of your pages.
Are You Still Feeling Anxious?
After reading Top 6 SEO Mistakes To Avoid 2020, you may feel like you walk through an anti-personnel minefield, hoping that you will not step on an invisible death trap and get blown up. You probably never knew SEO could be this dangerous. The good news is also present in this article. It doesn’t have to be.
For most of the part, the people who get in trouble with Google are either SEO geeks who deliberately risk their luck or unsuspecting innocent people who get advice from a village crank. If you know nothing about SEO and do nothing more than post excellent content and build relationships with your readers, you are probably safe.
Genuine and useful content is the right attitude for all bloggers, in my opinion. At least in the beginning. Instead of figuring out how to manipulate Google’s algorithm to get higher rankings, create content that deserves to be on the first page, spin it to hell, and wait for Google to catch up.
After all, their goal is to move the best things to the top of the heap. For that matter, the real, top-secret, behind-the-scenes strategy for getting your blog to rank on the first page of Google has nothing to do with link pyramids, keyword density, or any of that complicated nonsense. These are just three easy steps:
- Create awesome content
- Get influential people to talk about it.
- Wait for Google to rate.
These are the Top 6 SEO Mistakes To Avoid in 2020. So why do anything else and commit SEO mistakes on your favorite blog?
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