Search engine optimisation has been around for a fair while now as an industry. Its history is rich with progress and change, and it’s worthwhile paying attention to how the industry evolved in order for us to better understand it. Most of these changes are in the way of old techniques being banned – hence why it’s so important to keep on to of the changes, and avoid the SEO mistakes made by so many people.
Too many site owners who are new to SEO make very old mistakes when optimising their site. SEO is a technical subject, which is why many businesses rely on a professional search engine optimisation company for the SEO work itself. If you do go it alone, there are some things you need to be on the lookout for during your optimisation.
Cloaked information: Hiding information, or ‘cloaking’, is a big SEO no-no, but it can sometimes happen without you being aware of it. It doesn’t help that hiding text was once an approved optimisation technique, when the industry was still forming and Google wasn’t the behemoth that it is today. It’s worth checking that all of the information visible to search engines is also visible to your human site users, with the obvious exception of tags and code.
Keyword stuffing: Stuffing your content with too many keywords is another relic from the ancient days of search engine optimisation, but it’s still something to be aware of. Some content writers, acting on old information or just plain bad SEO advice, might accidentally stuff keywords into your SEO content. A good target to aim for is two to three keywords every 250 words, but you can discuss keywords with us at Stuck On.
Splash-doorway pages: Splash pages were once very much in fashion with web designers, as they acted as a sort of foyer for a site. Having to pass through a nicely designed splash page was thought to be impressive to customers, acting as a cover for the website. Problems occurred when spammers took splash pages and made them into doorway pages in order to fool the search engines and redirect internet users. These days, doorway pages just aren’t worth it.
Watch out for these mistakes, and avoid the SEO traps.
