SEO Boo Boo’s that could cost you rankings before you even start

Written by: Craig Edmonds | August 20, 2009

You upload your site onto the internet and then wait for things to happen. “Build it and they will come”…..Yeah okay….not!! It’s expecting a bit too much if you have not made thorough preparations and research beforehand.

Imagine it this way.

There are millions of sites, billions of pages floating around on the internet and the chances that the top search engines pick your site at random and list you on the first page is like choosing the winning numbers on the national lottery the first time you have every played. It just does not happen.

Search Engines are a Business
The search engines are themselves a business, big business and their clients are the users looking for products, services and information. The search engines job is to present their client with the most informative and relevant sites and pages.

This is why companies hire seo professionals to do the best possible keyword analysis and on-site optimisation done in advance. Their aim is to optimise your site through an array of specially chosen keywords and coding so that a search engine like Google, Yahoo or Bing can lap it up and present your information to their client.

This advance preparation will then help to generate increased traffic over time and as a result pave the way for better revenues.

So let us try and understand what the basic mistakes a site (or site owner) makes.

Excessive Keywords Stuffing
One mistake is that they cram their site with excessive use of keywords. This according to Google is an unhealthy trait and they can penalise the site thus affecting its Google ranking. Another word for it is keyword spamming.

Flash Intros
Another bad move is the placement of a flash intro or splash page. It may look real nice and seem cool but this results in the index page being obstructed because there is nothing there for the search engine to index, so the search engine will see there is of nothing of interest there and your index page wont be listed.

Keyword Analysis
Out of all the boo boo’s you can make, this is the biggest one. Sites commonly make the mistake of either putting in high competition, high traffic keywords or they choose low competition, zero traffic keywords.

High competition, High traffic keywords – If you are just launching a web site then you are already 5 years too late in terms of getting onto the first page for, well, pretty much any of the high competition key phrases because there are already thousands of sites vying for that position.

Low competition, Zero traffic keywords - So if you are late in joining the race to compete in the competition, then surely it makes sense to target low competition keywords right? Of course! But you have to be careful that you dont target a keyword that is so irrelevant that it has no traffic.

There is no point in ranking on the first page of Google for phrase “best business services in the world” when that phrase only gets 5 visitors per year. You are only kidding yourself. Sure, it’s pretty impressive when you are with your mates at the pub and you say “hey guess what, I am number 1 on google for the phrase best business services in the world”, they will applaud you and buy you drinks, but only a true seo will know the truth.

So what do you do?

At this point I am not saying don’t chase down high competition high traffic keywords, however at the same time you need to be looking at more niche phrases in order to pick up the slack.

Relevance of Keywords
A niche phrase is a phrase with Low Competition, Low Traffic. Again, I think I should mention the relevancy of keywords to your site. You need to be relevant. There is no point in ranking number 1 for “Airport Guide Dogs” when you sell real estate. Visitors to your site are looking for guide dogs, so they will vote with their mouse and click off your site in an instant if your site is not relevant. Your bounce rate will go through the roof.

What you need to be doing is asking your seo what keyword analysis tool he uses and to present you with the phrases and explanation of why he is using those phrases. Dont just accept any old phrase from them as more often than not, Seo’s want their job to be nice and easy too.

There are many tools out there but here are the two main ones I use with great success.

1. Wordtracker – paid subscription!
2. Google Search Keyword Tool – free!

A little keyword research done in advance can be the difference between boom or bust for your web site or its ongoing success or failure.

This list of boo boo’s is by no means definitive but if you can avoid a couple of them and work out a good keyword strategy, then you will be miles ahead of most.

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