SEO Newbie No-Nos

Whether you’re new to search engine optimization, or a seasoned pro, there are several key items one must remember when optimizing onsite content, link building, promoting on social media sites, and during content marketing as well. It seems that on a daily basis many of us are inundated with examples of SEO no-no’s, some of which are done by those either new to the industry or are just uneducated.

Anything Hidden
It never ceases to amaze me how many website owners utilize tactics such as hidden heading tags, hidden links, and hidden text. Never, and I mean never, is it okay to hide these critical items on a website. Search engines can see them, and they know they aren’t user friendly — how could they be? They’re hidden! Make sure to have every link visible, every heading visible, and this includes the color of the text as well. Think you should hide a link by making the text of the link the same color as the surrounding text, or 2 pixels? Think again. It’s not a wise tactic.

Duplicate Pages
Even though there is a lot of talk about the lack of control Google has over duplicate content, it doesn’t mean they don’t have some measures in place to address it. Every time you publish content make sure it’s unique. Have duplicate pages on your site, duplicate meta titles or descriptions? Get rid of them. There’s no real reason why you should have duplications on anything. Take the time to make it unique.

Keyword Stuffing
Repeating and repeating your keyword is not going to work, so just stop it already. Many content writers and website owners still think keyword stuffing works, when in the end it doesn’t. Spending the time to make unique content that’s not just word filling will get you farther in the long run.

Reciprocal Linking
Now this one might not be agreed upon by some, but reciprocal linking should be a no-no. In essence, you are canceling out the authority of the link placed to your site by placing a link right back to that same page. Do the right thing and get one way links to your site organically (ha if only it were that easy). At the very least make sure you have linkable content on your site that users can link to.
These are just a few of the newbie SEO no-no’s, which are huge pet peeves to seasoned people in the industry. Heck, some seasoned SEO professionals might even practice some of the no-no tactics. Do you have others to add to the list? List them in the comments below.

About the Author:
Steve Lazuka is the President of content marketing company, Interactive Media, based in Ohio. His company helps clients with their SEO content writing needs, including content marketing and promotion.