SMB SEO mistakes to avoid

27
Oct

For any small to medium sized business (SMBs) succeeding online can be an important goal. Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, is crucial for securing this success. But what is SEO? And how can you avoid the common mistakes that SMBs frequently make when it comes to SEO? Well, here at Pumpkin Web Design, we are Preston’s leading web design and web marketing professionals. We work across Preston, and the North West, including Southport and Wigan, as well as Manchester, to provide valuable web design, SEO, and marketing solutions to a range of clients. As a result, we have produced this guide to the biggest SEO mistakes for SMBs to avoid.

What is SEO?

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is all about making changes to your website, and developing a strategy, so that your website will be perform well on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). But achieving this is not always easy. In fact, some companies are still making SEO mistakes. 

What are the biggest SMB SEO mistakes to avoid?

While a lot of SMBs will have different opinions about what businesses should be doing, in terms of SEO, there is a general consensus about what you should not be doing. So, what are the biggest SEO mistakes to avoid?

  1. Using outdated SEO methods
  2. Not creating regular content
  3. Measuring the wrong metrics

Using outdated SEO methods

One of the most common SEO problems that businesses encounter, is when they use outdated methods. Theses might not be effective, but more seriously, they can often result in penalties from Google. As a result, you should always stay up to date with SEO strategies and best practices, especially with the frequent algorithm updates that Google has been releasing.

Outdated methods you should definitely avoid, include:

  • buying links- while this used to be an easy way to increase the profile of your website, it is now something that can result in a Google penalty.
  • hiding links and keywords in white text- this is a trick that has long been frowned upon and will definitely not help your website get to the top spot. In fact, it will instead result in a Google penalty.

Not creating regular content

Regular content brings a huge range of SEO benefits, including:

  • Showing your industry authority- this is something that Google looks for as an indicator of a top website.
  • Targeting an increased range of keywords- this means that your website can appear as a search result for more than just your primary search term. This means more chances for increasing traffic, which could result in more sales.
  • Helping your potential customers- quality, original content can help to answer common questions or problems that your potential customer might have. Answering these, and helping your audience is a good step to building consumer trust, necessary for increasing sales and sign ups.

This means that by not creating regular content, you could be seriously damaging your chances of success. Your website will be lacking high quality content, and you wont be able to reach as many potential customers. You’ll also be seriously limiting your keyword performance.

For more information and advice about web marketing, get in touch with the experts today, here at Pumpkin Web Design.

Pumpkin Web Design Ltd is a small and highly results driven digital agency working for like minded clients in Preston, Chorley, Southport, Blackburn, Burnley, Morecambe,Wigan, Manchester, London, Warrington, Blackpool, Lancaster, Leyland, Lytham St Annes, Bolton, Chester and the UK. Our services include web design, SEO, content marketing, video production, brand design and much more.