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The Top Ten SEO Mistakes
By Donald Nelson (c) 2008

It is possible to learn from both good and bad examples. Usually 
I write about what you "should" do to optimize your website, but 
now I will highlight some of the things that you should "not" do 
when you prepare your web pages. This list is not in any order 
of importance as all the points should be taken seriously if you 
want your site to do well in the search engine queries for your 
main keywords.

1. Using a "Splash Page".

I think you have seen sites where you go to the main page and 
all you see is a beautiful picture with the two words of text 
saying "enter here." The picture is beautiful, no doubt, but 
this is a disaster when it comes to search engine optimization. 
Search engine robots are looking for text, but there is no text 
on a "splash page." The main page of any website is the most 
important page, and it has the best chance of being optimized. 
If you use it to place a pretty picture, you are throwing away 
this chance. Search engines don't appreciate splash pages, and 
many human users too are annoyed by having to click to finally 
view the content. Avoid splash pages at all costs.

2. Putting Important Text, or even all the Text as an Image.

I have seen clever web designers produce a beautiful web page 
that has images and text combined to look like a normal web 
page. However if you try to put your cursor over the text and 
select it, you can't do it because there is no text. The whole 
page has been rendered as a jpg or gif image. It looks good to 
the viewer, but the search engine robot doesn't find any 
searchable text. Be careful if you are using some automatic web 
design programs which turn text into images. Also while it is 
quite extreme to turn an entire page into an image, you should 
also avoid changing your important headlines into gif images.

3. Not Putting Title And Description Tags on Pages.

Have you ever visited a web page that showed the words "new 
page" in the line at the top of the browser? The website owner 
forgot to put a title tag on the page. The title tag, which is 
in the head section of the document and is put between the items 
 is treated by search engines as one of the most 
important indicators about the content of a page. If you leave 
out the title tag or don't pay much importance to what you put 
there, then you are wasting a good optimization opportunity, as 
well as showing a sloppy kind of site construction.

Similarly, the description tag is often shown in search engine 
results pages (SERPS) as the description of your site. If you 
make a compelling description, it helps people to click through 
to your site. Ideally you want your site to be well ranked, but 
a high ranking is not enough. You need people to click through 
once they see your site's listing, and a good description can 
help you out.

4. Putting the Same Title and Description Tags on all the Pages.

Each of your pages is unique and has a special function, and you 
should let search engines and users know about this by changing 
the title and description tags to match the content on that 
particular page. It is not possible to optimize one single page 
for many different search terms, but it is possible to optimize 
each of the pages of your site for one or two important search 
phrases. If you take the time to make unique title and 
description tags for each of your pages, you can take advantage 
of this possibility and rank well for several search terms.

5. Trying to get by with a "Brochure" Site.

If you want to be the top site in your particular field, then 
you have to deserve it. The best way to deserve is to offer a 
good amount of quality content. You cannot get by with just 
putting a few pages with general descriptions about your 
company. For example, if you are selling electronic items, then 
back up your offering with reviews and helpful information for 
the consumers. This will make your site a valuable resource. 
Human visitors, and search engines alike, will soon recognize 
you as an authoritative source of information in your field.

6. Redesigning an Existing Site and Neglecting the Old URLs.

Your old website may have looked bad, but it had traffic and 
search engines indexed those pages and people are finding those 
pages based on the information that the search engine robots 
compiled from them. If you redesign your site, and completely 
toss out the old urls, without compensating for it, then you are 
tossing away all the traffic you built up before, because search 
engines will be sending people to pages that no longer exist.

There is a way to avoid this. If it is possible, stick to the 
same structure that your old site had and retain the same url 
addresses for the new pages. If this is not possible then the 
best thing to do is to make "permanent redirects." For this you 
will have to make a .htaccess file (a text file with instructions 
on the functioning of the site) . This file will tell search 
engines to permanently redirect traffic from an old url to a new 
url. When this file is in place if anyone types in the old url, 
he or she will be permanently redirected to the new location. 
Similarly the search engines will soon change their listings 
from the old urls to the new urls.

7. Not Using Local Keywords.

If you have just set up a web design business, don't think that 
you are going to be able to get a first page listing for the 
term "web design" or "web designer." The competition is too 
great and you are just starting out. But if you live in 
Missoula, Montana, then it is possible to get a good listing 
for "Web design, Missoula, Montana." So, put those geographical 
terms in your title tag, your description tag and the text on 
your page. Wherever possible optimize your site for local and 
regional keywords and you will stand a much better chance of 
being found by people who need your products or services.

8. Trying to do "Branding" in the Title Tag.

Everyone likes to put the name of their company first and the 
title tags of most sites reflects this. The first thing you see 
in the upper left hand corner of the blue line at the top of the 
browser is the name of the company. But if no one knows about 
your company, then no one is searching for your name. People are 
searching for answers to their needs, not to find you! If you 
can, avoid the temptation to put your company name as the first 
(and for search engines) and most important word in your title 
tag. Rather, put the most important keyword that people will use 
when searching for a site such as yours. You can do your branding 
elsewhere on the page (with your logo and supporting text) but 
don't try to do it in the title tag unless you are already quite 
famous.

9. Trying to Trick the Search Engines with Hidden Text, Cloaking 
or Doorway Pages.

If I had to prioritize the list, then I guess this is the 
biggest mistake you can make. Instead of putting energy into 
deceiving the search engines, you should use the same enthusiasm 
and skill to construct web pages that offer solid content to 
visitors. In the past people used to put hidden text, stuffed 
with keywords using font coloring that matched a background, or 
construct doorway pages or even pages with code that tried to 
deceive the search engines. These methods don't work and can get 
you banned from search engine indices. If anyone proposes to 
help you with "optimization" methods such as this, then you 
should avoid it like a plague.

10. Linking to "Bad Neighborhoods".

You can't get into trouble if a questionable or substandard site 
links to you, but according to Google, you can be penalized if 
you link to what they call bad neighborhoods. These are spam 
sites or other sites that have a bad reputation. So, don't 
accept offers to link with any and all websites. Visit the 
proposed link partner and see if the site is ranked, as opposed 
to being banned, and if there are any other issues that might 
make it questionable. If you have doubt, then don't.

Avoid these mistakes, and concentrate on providing informative 
and interesting content and you will succeed in your online 
endeavors.

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Donald Nelson is a search engine optimization specialist. You 
can read more of his articles at his website www.a1-optimization.com 
and learn about the affordable web promotion services that he 
offers.
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