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Top Ten of the Most Common SEO Mistakes
By Chris Diprose (c) 2007

Firstly it should be noted that Search Engine Optimization is
not something performed with a blanket approach it is an
individual set of actions performed page by page to suit that
page's particular goals. Here at Kanga Internet we break up a
clients website into specific and important pages based on the
keyword terms we have identified through research and then write
the first few pages to suit those terms. We associate page
titles, page file names (buy-blue-widgets.html), H1 tags,
description and keyword Meta tags and in page content to tell
the story that match those identified keywords. It is also
important to ensure your pages are W3 compliant and have no
errors.

The following are the top ten mistakes that I have seen made
over and over again by people trying to self-optimize their
websites.

1. Bad Titles
Titles are the most important thing about a webpage. Search
engine spiders see the title on your page first and they make a
general assessment about it based upon this. They scan the page
and make sure the content of the page matches the title and then
assign rankings based upon these matches and how they best fit.
The title tag is the best way to inform the search engine what
your page is about, and it plays an important part in ranking
if used properly. Placing your main identified keywords in the
title and ensuring to obey the rule of leftward and stemming is
vital - leftward rule, the closer the word to the left of the
sentence the more important it is; stemming is where words can
be associated but with words in-between i.e.: Great Blue Widgets
when stemmed would allow Great Widgets. It is important to
ensure your title matches your page content, description and
Meta keywords and is unique for your website. Every page title
and content should be unique otherwise it will be ranked
supplemental.

2. Filename of the Page
It is important if you are using dynamic websites like Joomla or
other content management systems that a search engine friendly
URL translator is installed. Because I use Joomla every day I
will describe what I mean relating to Joomla. In Joomla (and most
other dynamic websites) URL's like the normal Joomla URL
"index.php?option=com_mtree&task=listcats&cat_id=1766&Itemid=35"
drive the website. The problem with these URL's is that they are
unintelligible by humans and also by search engines. Installing
a search engine friendly URL component will change these pages
to something more meaningful and also including your keywords
in these page names can help with SEO. The newly transformed
search engine friendly URL would look like this
"buy-blue-widgets.html". If you do not have a dynamic website,
then ensure your page name is short, to the point and contains
your main keywords for that page maybe with a call to action
like "buy" and "blue widgets".

3. Duplicate or Bad Content
Ensuring your content is unique and relevant is vital in SEO
success. Often websites just duplicate content or bring in
plagiarized content from other websites. It is my experience
that these websites fail dismally in search engine rankings.
Write some decent and unique content or maybe search online and
find someone who can actually write you decent unique content
for a fee. Make it good, friendly and unique content that people
will want to link to. If you are listed in the supplemental
index of Google, then making sure your titles, descriptions,
Meta keywords and on page content is unique, is the only way
to drag them out of the supplemental index.

4. No Links
Having covered off a few of the on page most important SEO tips
we now look at links, which are an off page SEO concept. For
each person or website that links to your website it is a vote
for your site. If the website that links to yours has a high
pagerank itself then it carries more weight. Simply having good
keywords, titles and text on your page is only part of SEO. Just
because you created a unique and perfectly optimized webpage does
not mean you will automatically gain a decent pagerank for that
page. In order to ensure SEO success you have to create incoming
links - this is probably the hardest part of search engine
optimization because you are effectively selling your pages all
over the Internet. One way to gain instant (within a few weeks)
links is to pay for text advertising - A search on Google will
uncover some of the best text linking services. Link exchanges
are bad because for every vote you get you are giving one away
and, if you happen to link to a "black listed" site, then Google
will penalize you significantly. One way links are the ultimate
in SEO link campaigns so seek out directories (either paid or
free, you need to evaluate), post in forums, write articles and
submit them and ask other friendly webmasters if they can help
you out with a link. The best way to gain links is to have unique
content that other people actually want to link to.

5. Incoming Link Anchor Text
Having pointed out how important it is to gain incoming links,
it is now important to also point out that the text those links
are anchored to is important also. The text should be targeted
at your main keywords and the page they point to should have
those keywords as relevant and prominent also. The website you
link from should be relevant to your website. So, as an example
I own a web design company in Melbourne, Australia so I gain
links from web hosting providers and/or open source Joomla sites
in or around my region. Getting 1000 links from a casino related
website will serve no benefit to my website and will not make it
rank higher for "web design" keyword search terms. Use
professional common sense when gaining links.

6. Bad Internal Page Links
We return to on page factors that you can work on within your
website. It is important to make sure that the anchor text
linking to pages within your own website is relevant to the
target page. Make sure the title tag is filled in also for each
link. You have the greatest control over links from within your
own web site so make sure they are relevant and that the link
title and the on page copy match the main keywords of the target
page.

7. Live Links
Using some external tools like the link checker that W3 Org
(http://www.w3.org/) offers is good. I suggest harnessing as
many tools as you can to ensure all of the links on your website
are live, working and not sending people to 404 error pages. It
is also important to ensure your page markup (html, xhtml) is
valid. W3 also provides a tool for this. Make use of both of
these freely available tools.

8. Impatience
Search Engine Optimization is not a short term task. It is one
of an ongoing refinement after refinement and hour after hour of
working on your website. Producing unique content, checking it,
validating, listing and checking the search engines and making
sure they have it listed correctly. Do not think for one second
that you can optimize your site thoroughly ever and do not ever
think that just because you are number one for a search term that
it will indefinitely stay that way. Search Engine Companies are
always changing their ranking and rating systems and coupled with
this there are always other people out there gunning for your top
spot. Keep looking to improve and learn more and don't sit back
and wait for others to take your top spot. Be proactive, seek
out new content, links and keep ahead of the curve.

9. Keyword Selection
This is proving to be a very common mistake among beginners to
SEO. Often people base their own keyword selection on what they
*think* is right but is this what people actually search for
when they are looking for your product or service? Often the
answer to this questions is no. It is an important step to do
the correct keyword research and ensure you have the right
keyword list before you optimize any pages with them. Using
Overture, Google Adwords and some other paid keyword tools like
WordTracker (the default standard in Keyword Finding) are vital
to success in finding good keywords. It is important to localize
your target market and figure out what they are actually
searching on when they are looking for products or services that
you offer. Do the research and be as specific as possible while
still being broad enough to capture some high keyword traffic.

10. Keyword Spamming and Stuffing
If you sell "Blue Widgets", then every page of your site does
not need to have "Blue Widgets" in the title, description and
Meta tags. Try and be objective and analyze your website. Focus
pages on a specific group of keywords you have identified from
the keyword list. Sometimes finding niche markets locally first
can be best. So, as an example, "Buy Blue Widgets Australia" or
"Buy Blue Widgets Melbourne". These would be examples of good
second or even third tier search keyword phrases, but you can
make some good sales with these niche terms because the searcher
is targeting buying these items.

These are not the be-all and end-all of Search Engine
Optimization mistakes, but I have found these to be the main
mistakes made by my clients prior to Kanga Internet being
involved. Good luck and I wish you all the best with your SEO
efforts.
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Chris Diprose is the Manager of Search Engine Optimization
Australia (http://www.kangainternet.com/search-engine-optimisation.html)
firm Kanga Internet. As part of this organization his main goals
are the improvement of SEO for websites and dynamic content
management systems. SEO is not to be feared but embraced. If
you are in doubt then contact a reputable SEO firm to help you
with generating more web traffic.
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