5 SEO Pitfalls to Avoid in 2017

Now that we’ve finally made it to 2017, online marketers and business owners need to consider their search engine marketing strategy as we move forward into the future.

Many SEO companies will take some time to think back on the previous year’s business and reflect on their biggest triumphs and tragedies. It’s wise to do this at the beginning of the new year so that you can plan ahead correctly.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at five potential search engine optimization pitfalls to avoid in 2017.

Stop Expecting Cheap SEO Plans to Provide Outstanding Results

If you’re going to take one thing away from the information being shared with you today it’s this: you get exactly what you pay for and nothing more.

As Youth Noise, the best SEO agency Charlotte has to offer often reminds us, it’s a waste of time to spend money on search engine optimization services that are so cheap they end up taking out your rankings instead of boosting your website in the search engines.

What are cheap SEO plans?

A few examples include: buying backlinks in bulk from low-quality websites, keyword and meta-tag stuffing (they were great shortcuts during the Internet’s heyday but they are completely useless now), and paying to rank for low volume keywords that won’t deliver any real traffic to your site, to name a few.

Stop creating problems that are so big your website might not be able to overcome them. You’ll hurt your search rankings with cheap SEO plans, not help them.

Stop Avoiding Link Building

Every once in awhile, a controversial report will hit the Internet and tell us that backlinks are dead! Not only will it say they are dead, but they are completely gone and never coming back.

Guess what? I’ve been reading these reports for the last 10 years, yet backlinks are still the number #1 factor determining the ranking order in search engines.

If you want to get high search engine rankings, you need to actively build backlinks to your website. It’s the only way to climb the search engine mountaintop and reach #1 on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Stop avoiding it. Instead, use this knowledge to your advantage and take out the competition!

Poor Keyword Research

To create an effective SEO campaign, you have to get your keyword research right. And you have to get it right from the very beginning because otherwise, you could end up wasting time trying to rank for keywords that will do nothing for your bottom line.

So stop wasting your time. Stop trying to rank for useless keywords.

Instead, use the Google keyword planner to your advantage. Find the best keywords bringing in the most search volume. And really go after the ones that have little to no competition.

And if you do want to go after the competitive keywords, by all means, begin the process. But know that it’s going to take a while before you crack the first page, let alone the top three.

Failure to Understand the True Purpose of SEO

As an individual or company looking to market products and services online, it’s your job to understand search engine optimization.

You have to realize the value of this process to get the most out of it. And you also have to realize that the results might take a while, so you shouldn’t give up before the magic happens.

Give it at least 6 -12 months before calling it quits. And even that might be premature.

Stop Thinking SEO Will Solve All of Your Website Problems

Last but not least, many online marketers and business owners believe search engine optimization is the answer to the all their troubles. They believe the SEO gods are going to cast the spell on their website and fix their broken sales funnel.

It doesn’t work that way! If you’re getting tons of traffic to your site and nobody’s buying, it’s time for a conversion audit.

All the #1 rankings in the world can’t help you if this is the case.

Article By: Wendy Dessler (Super-Connector at OutreachMama)

Wendy is a super-connector with Towering SEO and OutreachMama who helps businesses find their audience online through outreach, partnerships, and networking. He frequently writes about the latest advancements in digital marketing and focuses his efforts on developing customized blogger outreach plans depending on the industry and competition.