The SEO mistakes that bloggers make are often the same ones over and over again. And while it's easy to feel like you're doing everything right, there may be a few things going wrong in your SEO strategy without you even realizing it!
In this article, we'll share some of the most common mistakes made by bloggers and how to avoid them, so that your blog can rank at the top of Google searches for years to come.
When it comes to SEO, you will find it's not always the obvious stuff that can hurt or damage your ranking, there are multiple factors at play here.
Keyword Stuffing:
This is when you stuff keywords into your content in a way that doesn't make sense or read naturally. The result of this mistake can be pages with so many keyword phrases crammed in, they're unreadable and difficult to navigate for readers.
If you use plugins such as RankMath, SurferSEO or even YoastSEO then you will usually be given an indicator on the number of times you have used a particular keyword phrase.
Though from experience RankMath usually goes 'green' around the 5 - 10 mark, and I find that quite high.
Use those plugins as a guide, and ensure you are adding your chosen keywords, or variations into your content naturally.
Creating Really Short, Or Empty Content
Using long-form content usually provides an easier platform or canvas to get your point across, and naturally weave your keywords into.
An article that is 500 words or so doesn't really provide a ton of information or advice. Depending on what you are trying to get across, 1,000 - 2,000 word articles usually start hitting the sweet spot.
If you are feeling adventurous, you may hit the 4,000+ words, which can sometimes be broken down into 2 articles, or even bundled into a eBook or lead magnet.
The 15 Second Leads training from Legendary Marketer could have been 1 or 2 articles (without the video or audio), and is around 4,000 words, in a decent PDF.
But, don't just write for the sake of trying to hit targets. As I mentioned before, people try and keyword stuff in a bid to fatten up their content. It can be just as harmful as thin content.
It takes practise to find the balance.
Super Long Paragraphs
When creating content, you want to ensure your paragraphs are short and concise.
Like this one.
This keeps the readers' attention, but also allows for a better reading experience, thus ensuring users stay on your site for longer, reducing bounce rates, and increasing the big G's happiness.
Over the years of writing hundreds of articles, I have found that short, and to the point paragraphs ensure that people keep reading and keep making their way through your article.
Long, boring paragraphs mean that people will drop off and just leave your site, increasing that bounce rate, and showing the Big G that your content is boring.
It may be informative, really useful, but if people don't want to read it, then you have sadly failed.
Of course, as with anything, this rule can be thrown out the water in some niches. Health for example seems to do really well with long, complex paragraphs, crammed full of data and science. You should track your content via HeatMaps to see if people are staying around to see what you talk about.
If you are finding they are skipping paragraphs, then look at chopping them up into smaller, bitesize pieces.
Grammar & Spelling Mistakes
Grammar mistakes make the content difficult to read, and this is a big mistake. If your content is full of mistakes, people will simply leave, thus causing a negative impact.
Much like Spelling, short paragraphs and stuffing your keywords, ensuring your grammar is perfect, or at least 'decent' will once again ensure people stay around that little bit longer.
As someone who struggles massively with Grammar, and spelling, I tend to use Chrome Extensions such as Grammarly, it's free to use, though there is a paid version if you feel you need the 'premium help'.
You can also look at creating your content in Google Docs, Word or any other document creation software to use their inbuilt spelling and grammar checks.
Spell check is important but so is punctuation since you want to make sure your sentences end with periods, question marks, exclamation points depending on whatever sentence type you are writing.
Read through your content before publishing it for spelling errors or any other grammatical issues that may need correcting; make sure there are no extra spaces between paragraphs during paragraph changes (especially if some sentences have been cut off).
Dоn’t Knоw Whо Thеіr Target Аudіеnсе Іѕ.
Blоggіng іѕn’t a реrѕоnаl jоurnаl. It’ѕ a mеdіа рlаtfоrm thаt muѕt аttrасt a rеаdеrѕhір.
Unlеѕѕ уоu’rе a wеll-knоwn реrѕоnаlіtу, іt’ѕ dіffісult tо buіld a fоllоwіng іf уоu juѕt wrіtе dоwn уоur muѕіngѕ.
Remember to add google analytics to your blog, that way you can understand who is searching for your blog, what keywords they are using and how you can tailor your content to match the audience (or tweak existing content).
Not Adding ALT Tags To Images
I have to admit, I forgot about this during my first year or two of blogging, an image of your logo will help promote your site as well as your products and services.
Having an alternative tag also allows search engines to understand what the image is, and how it relates to your article in question.
For example, the above SEO Affiliate Domination image has the ALT tag that says 'SEO Affiliate Domination Money Back Guarantee'.
It let's Google or Bing understand that the image is showing something that is about SEO Affiliate Domination, and just happens to be a guarantee that Gregg offers.
No Meta Descriptions or Titles;
When it comes to SEO, bloggers and writers alike make many mistakes. One of the most common is neglecting their meta titles or descriptions for pages and posts.
Seriously, I have found hundreds of articles that have taken the standard title or description that their theme provides or the one that WordPress throws at you.
Don't do this.
This can be problematic on two levels: firstly, you are not capturing peoples attention; secondly, search engines do not have any idea what your page is about without this information!
If someone were typing "blogging tips" into google for instance, there would be hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of blogs all vying for attention - but if yours has a meta title like "10 Blogging Tips That Blow Your Mind" then it stands out from the crowd.
Use plugins such as RankMath or YoastSEO to help set your Meta Title, or Meta Description for your posts and pages.
Not Using The Right Keywords;
When writing, be sure to include keywords that are relevant to your blog post, it is easier to write done the keyword you are focusing on before you start writing your article.
Use SE Ranking, Keyword Chef, or whatever keyword research tool you use to find the core keyword, and any variations you may need.
This will ensure you know what you are talking about, or the words you are going to talk about within your article. Keep in mind the first tip we spoke about which is ensuring you don't stuff those keywords.
Dоn’t Dо Аnуthіng Еxсерt Ѕеll, Ѕеll, Ѕеll.
Mаnу buѕіnеѕѕеѕ bеlіеvе thаt juѕt роѕtіng thеіr рrоmоtіоnаl соntеnt оn thеіr blоg wіll ѕеll thеіr оffеrіng. This is no further than the truth. If you are building a blog to generate revenue, then you need to look at from a different point of view.
Creating a blog to just sell products (either via affiliate marketing or via the DropShipping method) requires you to build a very specific kind of page, that is designed to express either your opinion or sales pitch. You are also required to really get to know the products you are trying to sell.
From personal experience, create the blog first with interesting content and then look at monetizing it later.
No Internal Linking Between Pages
Many entrepreneurs forget to link their content to other pages or articles on their site, thus losing out on the link juice and passing of back up authority through those links.
Ensuring that you are finding articles that reinforce what you are talking about and offer further explanations or ideas.
You will find within this article that I am linking to other articles on the site that offer further information. For example linking off to Grammarly, or even one of my favourite articles on how to start your own affiliate blog.
No External Links To Other Authority Sites
It is important to link out to other authority sites, but not too many. Don't forget that no-follow links still pass some backup SEO value and should be used on external links.
It highlights and shows the articles that you are linking to.
You don't have to constantly throw links to other external articles, but finding a relevant website or article is definitely worth it.
It is also important to update the links from time-to-time so google doesn't penalize your site for having old, dead or broken links on it.
Blog Design & Layout
Another mistake bloggers make is when they spend hours on their blog design instead of spending time writing their posts! It might seem like a fair trade at first but if no one comes back to read the post then all those hours spent designing it were wasted anyway.
Be sure not to go overboard with colour schemes or backgrounds either because it can distract from the main focus of the post.
A good rule to follow is if you can't read it then your reader probably won't be able to either. Simply use easy to read Themes such as GeneratePress. It's clean, clear and simply to set up.
If you do want to use certain layouts, or even templates, use site builders such as Elementor, or Thrive Architect.
If you have an online store, blog posts make great landing pages too but don’t forget that they also need a strong call-to-action button at the end so people will know what it is about or how to keep reading on your site. You can do this by adding in buttons with prompts such as “read more” or “buy now.
Zero Brаndіng Or Consistency
Blоggеrѕ thіnk thаt оnlу bіg соmраnіеѕ nееd brаndіng. Thеу bеlіеvе thаt brаndіng іѕ еxреnѕіvе. Irоnісаllу, thе орроѕіtе іѕ truе. Thе ѕmаllеr уоu аrе, thе mоrе уоu nееd brаndіng tо mаkе уоur mеdіа еntіtу lооk bіggеr.
Check out sites like Fiverr or Upwork to help you create your blog brand, it's great to have consistency with colours, typography and more. Tying it all together with a well-made theme can really make your blog stand out from the crowd.
Other Mistakes That Bloggers Make - Final Words
We have covered roughly 11 different mistakes that bloggers make, but I am sure there are tons more out there that people get caught up with or trip over.
I cover and deal with these and many more inside of BlogFocused, a complete step by step guide on researching, building and scaling an affiliate blog or website, from scratch.
Can you think of any others that I might have missed, drop them below.
I started this blog around 2017, after realising that I wanted to let people know about all the different ways someone could make money online. From DropShipping, Affiliate Marketing, Network Marketing and more.
This blog has now grown to review and explain a variety of different tools and platforms, in the bid to help you.
This blog contains affiliate links, and I will get a commission for purchases made through these links. It doesn’t change anything for you and will on occasion save you money! Enjoy, James.