A large part of the work in search engine optimization is fixing mistakes someone made earlier. It’s not surprising that mistakes happen — it could be a developer who never considered SEO or didn’t have it in their assignment. It might be an old website that doesn’t meet modern standards, or in some cases someone who tried SEO but simply couldn’t handle the job.
We therefore want to give you a list of common, major, and dangerous mistakes you can make with your website. There are plenty of examples where even a small mistake has led to catastrophic results in search rankings.
Top 10 SEO Mistakes
1. Flash
Whether it’s a flashy ad agency or just sloppy work behind it, Flash often creates huge problems for websites that want visibility in Google’s results. Google claims they can read Flash, but that’s far from true. Having a few elements in Flash is fine, but if your whole site is built with it, you can count on being benched in the search results. From an SEO perspective, a Flash website is a self-inflicted own goal.
2. #
Have you seen URLs containing the # symbol? That’s Ajax trickery, and just like Flash, it’s a shortcut straight into the trash bin. Google says they can handle it, but that doesn’t mean you’ll rank well — at best they can index a homepage, and usually not more. The only reason Flash is higher on this list is that on an Ajax-heavy site, at least the start page can sometimes be read.
3. Frames
There are still providers selling solutions in Frames. Frames are the web’s equivalent of a spiked club and hallucinogenic mushroom brew. It may have worked for Vikings, but online you need a clear head. Best to avoid Frames altogether.
4. Duplicate Content SEO
For a short time this was the secret sauce of many shady SEO providers. By letting Google index endless variations of the same content, they could generate traffic for all kinds of strange keywords. Often this was done by treating site search results as important pages. Every search generated new indexable pages, essentially a Duplicate Content factory. Databases of companies, recipes, or scraped content were commonly used.
5. SEO-text, SEOtext, SEO content, cheap SEO Stockholm
Our SEO consultant, search optimization expert, SEO agency said we need more text on the homepage. SEO Consultant, Search Optimization Consultant, Cheap SEO Stockholm… You get the idea.
6. Build it and they will come
If you’re planning a softball field, maybe. For a business, it’s the worst possible marketing approach. A good product helps, but marketing exists for a reason. Even the world’s safest car spends millions on marketing. Relying only on “great content” won’t cut it. Google doesn’t care about your business success; they care about advertising revenue.
7. Sitewides
Sitewide links are Google’s mousetrap for lazy optimizers. A sitewide link from a large, trusted site can give you a boost — until the trap snaps shut. Many SEOs have enjoyed a short-lived high ranking, only to crash down hard once the algorithm catches on.
8. Ethical SEO
Many self-proclaimed experts push Ethical SEO. It’s just another word for “moral victory.” SEO is ruled by an algorithm, not ethics. The algorithm cares about math, not morals. Claiming ethical SEO is like selling “ethical calculus.” Sounds nice, but it doesn’t rank websites.
9. No SEO at all
The “safest” option is doing nothing, ensuring you’ll never lose rankings. Of course, you’ll also stay buried on page 4, clinging to your 37th spot with pride while no one ever visits.
10. Faith
Many people operate on faith in SEO. They “believe” likes are the next big ranking factor, or that footer links are great. SEO is a zero-sum game with fixed rules. Serious SEO companies test, measure, and analyze. Non-serious ones are filled with “believers.”
If you like our SEO posts
Truth be told, we feel blogging is becoming less and less impactful. I, Magnus, have run Sweden’s largest SEO blog and been active in the SEO blog world for years, but blogging attracts fewer readers now. The demand stays the same, while the amount of content online grows every day. That’s the problem with Content Marketing. So if you like our/my SEO articles, please share them.
Magnus Bråth
Consultant & Adviser
Magnus is one of the world's most prominent search marketing specialists and primarily works with management and strategy at his agency Brath AB.