5 Common SEO Mistakes You Should Avoid in 2020

In this day and age, no comprehensive online marketing campaign can be imagined without Search Engine Optimization. However, this frequency doesn’t change the fact that we are talking about a rather complicated procedure where any kind of misstep leads to lost purchases. With as much as 70% of potential customers doing online purchase research before they engage in a sales conversion, that is something you simply can’t afford.

So, let us take a look at some of the common SEO pitfalls you should avoid in 2020 if you want to keep your business on the right track.

Misusing the keywords

SEO is entirely based on keyword research. Messing up this very basic requirement will irreparably damage all of your future efforts. Therefore, do your best to keep track of these big three keyword-related mistakes:

• Not knowing your audience – Keywords are the words your customers use to find some specific product or service. If you are optimizing your website for words that won’t likely be used by your target audience, you will accomplish very little.
• Not using headline tags – To put it simply, search engines put much more emphasis on the keywords that can be found in the headings and titles. So, don’t be afraid to use this powerful tool to the fullest extent.
• Not using low-competition keywords – When it comes to keywords, there is a huge area between too popular and implausible. Using phrases that have been omitted by your competition but still pack enough search potential might just be your recipe for success.
• Unsatisfied search intent – If you are searching the phrase “SEO,” that can mean a lot of things. If you are searching for “SEO services,” your search intent is much clearer. Adapt keywords for the intents close to your agenda.

Not gathering sufficient feedback

Like any other marketing method in existence, SEO needs detailed, timely, and accurate feedback in order to be successful. Unfortunately, way too many marketers out there are putting so much attention to the outbound efforts that they simply fail to collect all the valuable data that sits on their tables. Don’t fall into this trap. What you should do instead is to start using PPC and the latest SEM reporting tools that will present you with all the important stats and reports in a single, comprehensive dashboard.

Postponing SEO

Small business owners often need to cut a lot of corners to get their ventures off the ground. So, it is perfectly understandable for them to follow some imaginary roadmap that places a professional website at the very beginning but SEO marketing much further down the road. However, the tools and the market are in a state of constant flux. When the time comes to fire up your content campaign, chances are you will need to make considerable changes. So, do your best to build SEO into your website and marketing strategy from the get-go.

Not staying up to date

Speaking of changes, Google is known for rolling out new updates fairly often. And keep in mind – some of them are pretty earth-shattering. Just try remembering Mobilegeddon, and all the fuss it left in its wake. The point we are trying to make is that even the slightest changes in search engine algorithms can leave your content strategies stagnating for months without you ever knowing why your content is not making results. Don’t make such a horrible mistake and try to stay up to date with what’s cooking in California.

Not providing high-quality content

Last but not least, you have to keep in mind that the content you are putting out there is a marketing asset aimed at converting visitors into customers, but only from your perspective. In the eyes of the myriads of website visitors consuming that content, various website articles are a way to stay up to date, find helpful information and solve common problems. If they don’t find the articles helpful, they will migrate to another website. So, while you are building your content strategies and thinking about optimization, don’t forget to actually provide something useful to your potential customers.

We hope these five tips will help you overcome some common SEO obstacles that are currently preventing way too many businesses from realizing their full potential. Search Engine Optimization has become a massive industry where less and less attention is paid to nuances. Use this fact to your advantage and put your business on the map with good old hard work and attention to detail.