1. Your website doesn't have a responsive web design
Have you ever found yourself on a website without responsive web design? The answer is most likely yes, but I'm also sure you left the website again pretty quickly.
If there's one thing we should all have learned over the years, it's that Google prioritises user experience. Why would the search engine reward a website with top rankings when most users will have a bad experience? The answer is, it won't. So if your website isn't responsive and doesn't work, functionally and visually, on mobile or tablet, it needs to be on your to-do list in 2023.
In 2002, it may have been OK to have a website that wasn't responsive on mobile or tablet. Back then, Britney Spears, Pitbull and Nik og Jay were also among the biggest names in the music world. What I'm trying to say is that some things (fortunately) change over the years.
2. Bland titles and meta descriptions
A significant SEO mistake in 2023 is still missing, or downright poor, titles and meta descriptions. Your title tags give the reader, and not least Google, an indication of the content on your landing page. They're also your chance to catch users' attention and get them to click through to your website rather than your competitors'.
Good titles and meta descriptions:
- Are informative.
- Invite the reader to click through.
- Have the right number of characters.
- Contain the right SEO keywords.
Want to know more? Then it's well worth reading our blog post and getting to grips with on-page SEO.
3. Useless “SEO copy” without relevant information
Have you ever heard the expression “SEO copy”? Unfortunately, it's what many people call text that's meant to strengthen a website's SEO. However, Google's “helpful content update” made it abundantly clear that useless content won't get your website far up the search results.
The first mistake you can make is to start referring to blog posts, guides or sales page copy as SEO copy. That term shouldn't be part of your vocabulary at all. All copy and content on your website should be semantic, informative and well written, and don't worry, Google will reward you for doing SEO for people rather than robots.
ChatGPT took Denmark and the rest of the world by storm back in November 2022, and today students, businesses and private individuals use artificial intelligence on a daily basis. Opinions are certainly divided on whether AI-written copy will cause problems for us SEO specialists in the future, and it's something we're all keeping a close eye on. Read more about ChatGPT's impact on SEO.
4. Unnatural keyword stuffing
Some SEO specialists have taken Nephew's song “igen og igen og” (“again and again and”) a little too seriously when optimising the copy on a website. SEO isn't about cramming a particular keyword into a page thousands of times, and it can actually end up harming your SEO more than it helps. This phenomenon isn't new in SEO, but unfortunately it still happens in 2023.
If you follow my third piece of advice about “useless SEO copy”, you can be sure you won't end up resorting to keyword stuffing.
5. Using keywords with the wrong search intent
Search volume doesn't mean a keyword is worth going after. Your keyword research may show on paper that a given keyword has high traffic potential. But if it doesn't match users' search intent, the likelihood of ranking high on Google for that search is vanishingly small.
Example:
You have a blog about sneakers and fashion, and your keyword research shows that there are 33,000 monthly searches for ‘Nike sko’ on Google Denmark. “Great!”, you think, and throw yourself headlong into writing a skyscraper of a blog post about Nike shoes, their history etc. in the hope of ranking high on Google for that search.
But have you looked into what people are searching for when they google ‘Nike sko’? What their search intent is?
Are they interested in reading about Nike shoes, or buying Nike shoes? A quick Google search clearly points to the latter.
Read more about how to match search intent and content here.
6. Inadequate and ineffective internal link building
Not everyone prioritises internal link building, and that's a big mistake in itself. Internal link building creates an internal link structure that makes it easier for visitors and Google's robots to navigate your website. You also pass link equity to the landing pages you link to.
However, many people still don't use internal link building correctly. For example, it would be pointless to add an internal link to our subpage about Google Ads in this blog post. Instead, it makes sense for me to add an internal link to our big guide to SEO, which is updated regularly.
It's also a mistake to think anchor text doesn't matter. Even if you're trying to rank for “carpenter” on your homepage, it shouldn't be your anchor text every time. “Professional carpenter”, “carpenter”, “carpentry firm” and “get help from a carpenter” are examples of possible anchor texts you can use to create a natural internal link structure.
Does your landing page contain countless internal links where “click here”, “read more” or “get more information” is your anchor text? Then you're making one of the biggest internal link building mistakes in 2023.
7. Off-page SEO is forgotten
Many people forget the external side of SEO. OK, that's not entirely true: they always remember external link building. The love for the other areas of off-page SEO, on the other hand, is as non-existent as the plot in every single film produced by Adam Sandler.
Google My Business, online reviews and traffic from social media are categorised as off-page SEO. Are you one of the doubters? Then I've written a post where you can learn more about the importance of off-page SEO.
8. Your website lacks personality
Imagine you're looking for a carpenter to handle the renovation of your home. You click through to two different websites and have to decide which one to choose.
The first website has lots of different services, and it's clear that they're specialists and could easily carry out your upcoming renovation with flying colours. However, they use stock photos on the website, there's a short About Us page, and there's no portfolio page.
On the second website, it's also clear that they could easily handle your renovation. But on this website, you can see their previous projects on their portfolio page, they use personal photos and videos, and they have an About Us page bursting with smiling employees.
If the price of the renovation is the same, which company would you lean towards? I certainly wouldn't be in any doubt.
“Yeah, yeah, that all sounds very nice, but do you have data to back this up?”
If you have an About Us page and a portfolio page, you should look into your website's behaviour flow and which pages get the most page views in Google Analytics. The About Us page will most likely be in the top 3 most visited pages.
9. PBN backlink spam
Most people have become aware of how serious spammy backlinks are since Google's “December 2022 link spam update”. Unfortunately, not everyone understands how important it is to be careful with your external link building.
PBN backlinks are a breach of Google's Search Essentials, as this type of link isn't natural and only exists to get a website higher up the rankings on Google.
So if your website is being spammed with external links from low-authority websites, you can't get them removed fast enough. Google will most likely discover it sooner or later. Read more about toxic backlinks.
10. Poor URL structure
Have you ever analysed a website's URL structure? If you work with SEO on a daily basis, I hope the answer is yes.
A poor URL structure can have a negative effect on your SEO, simply because Google struggles to understand your URLs.
Typical URL mistakes:
- Your URLs contain “non-ASCII characters”.
- Your URLs contain underscores (_).
- Your URLs contain words that are “run together” (missing hyphens).
- Your URLs are far too long.
Are your URLs doing more harm than good? Then you've got a project for 2023. A little tip: use Screaming Frog to identify pitfalls in your URLs.
11. You don't keep up to date
If you're an SEO specialist striving to achieve the best results on Google, there's one SEO mistake that's as disastrous as leather trousers in 30-degree heat.
I'm talking, of course, about keeping up to date with Google's many algorithm updates. Since January 2020, Google has rolled out many major algorithm updates, and some have had a bigger impact than others.
There are many ways to keep up to date, for example by subscribing to newsletters from Marie Haynes, following interesting SEO specialists on LinkedIn and checking Google's news page every week.
Google is constantly changing, and it's a big problem if you don't keep up to date in 2023.
Need help with SEO?
Do you feel you don't have the time, energy or skills to handle SEO yourself? Then you can get help from an experienced digital marketing agency.
At Webamp, my talented colleagues and I are ready to help your business become visible for your core services. Contact us today!
FAQ, SEO mistakes
What is SEO?
SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimisation’. It's a time-consuming process, and there's a long list of disciplines to master if you want to be visible for sought-after keywords.
What are SEO mistakes?
As the name suggests, SEO mistakes are mistakes that can have a negative effect on your search engine optimisation. They can range from minor slip-ups to big, disastrous mistakes.
What is a typical SEO mistake?
There are many SEO mistakes you see on a daily basis. One of the biggest happens during keyword research, where many people choose to optimise for particular keywords with a search intent that isn't relevant to the business in question.
