SEO isn't always easy, especially at the beginning starting from nothing, trying to learn all the small details and craft your high-impact SEO strategy. There are few often mistakes that businesses make and can be easily fixed so let's take a look…

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Neglecting local SEO

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Many businesses forget to focus on their local SEO even when it can be their main source of new customers. For example, if you have a bakery, your number one goal should be creating an incredible local SEO strategy and whenever someone googles “bakery near me” or “bakery in my city” you should be the first one to pop up and immediately impress.

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Make sure you:

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• Create a Google Business Profile and use all of its functions applicable to you
• Encourage your satisfied customers to leave a great review on your Google Maps profile
• Set up your name, address and phone number everywhere the same, especially if you changed your location or have multiple phone numbers
• Use location-specific keywords on your website such as “bakery near me”
• If you have any ad budget left, use it to pump your profile as high as possible

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Wrong keywords or keyword stuffing

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Unfortunately the good old “use your keyword as much as possible” does not work anymore. Make sure you use your keywords naturally and avoid keyword stuffing. 

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And first of all, give some time to your keyword research, to understand your competition and avoid broad and highly competitive keywords. If you are starting out on a limited budget don't try to beat the “amazon” of your keyword.

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Some tips: 

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• Focus on outputting engaging content that has been written naturally
• Go through basic keyword research. For example with Google Keyword Planner
• If starting out focus on long-tail keywords such as “bakery with cinnamon rolls in Malaga”

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Under-performing website from technical standpoint

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When you assign your web-development to someone, please stay involved. Once in a while, test the website to see if it is structured well, loads fast enough and it is responsive on all devices. Too many businesses lose customers nowadays just because of technically under-performing websites.

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Make sure your website has:

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• Optimized images, learn how to do that here
• Been properly structured, clear menus and internal linking
• Is mobile responsive, cheap web-developers often neglect this and it is a HUGE mistake

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You can check your website speed at Google PageSpeed Insights.

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Neglecting On-Page SEO 

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Yes, stuff like meta description and alt-text sounds terrible but it can hurt your website a lot. These few key practices help especially Google to know why you should rank high.

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Make sure to:

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• Use your target keyword in the title tag and meta description which have been properly structured
• Add alt-text to all of your images
• Structure your content properly using H1, H2, H3… tags

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You can learn more about all of this in What Is SEO.

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Publishing and bye bye

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If you buy a new bicycle, you should take care of it because otherwise, after some time, it'll become rusty and slow. It works the same with SEO.

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Make sure you:

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• Track your analytics and performance through Google Analytics and Google Search Console
• Obtain high quality backlinks
• Regularly update old and publish new content

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These few mistakes can sometimes make it or break it so make sure you have them covered and if yes then never stop improving. 

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Hopefully this quick blog helps you improve your online presence and grow your business even more.

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Thank you for reading,

Damian from Visio.

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