Most digital marketers and web designers will tell you that SEO is necessary for a long-lasting online presence — but many won’t tell you what (or what not) to do. This is often because the best SEO strategies are designed specifically for your business and are not a copy-and-paste to-do list.

Still, there are a few things that you shouldn’t do, so let’s discuss some of the most common mistakes that are hurting your website SEO (and what you can do about them).

Common Mistakes That Are Hurting Your Website SEO

Most of these mistakes are made thanks to outdated advice from agency websites or popular SEO “gurus” who continue to share their best tips (although they are often far from achievable with a small business budget and team).

And, even if you’re not planning on deep-diving into your SEO strategy, these are great places to start to make sure you’re not hurting your SEO in the meantime. Here are some common mistakes business owners make in their website’s SEO:

#1. Keyword Stuffing

You may think that more is better, but it’s not — adding your keyword too many times on your page or in your metadata can have the opposite effect. You can also hurt your website’s SEO by targeting the same exact keyword across multiple pages (it’s considered ‘keyword cannibalism’).

Instead, pick one keyword with variations and sprinkle it throughout your page or content naturally.

#2. Missing Metas and Page Titles

Even if you’re targeting a popular keyword, it’s better than leaving the space empty! When you’re setting up your web pages and content, make sure you’re adding your page metadata, such as your page title and your page meta. 

#3. Ignoring Your Images

Just like your page titles and meta descriptions, you shouldn’t skip optimizing your images. You should check your image size and file names and make sure you’re adding image alt descriptions to make your pages more accessible (and optimized for SEO).

#4. Not Submitting Your Sitemap

This is such a simple one to do even if you’re not tech-savvy (at least, it is if you’re submitting a Showit sitemap). However, a sitemap is typically automatically generated by your website builder and is meant to help crawlers from Google find and index your web pages. 

You can check and see if your sitemap has been submitted by logging into your Google Search Console. 

#5. Skipping on Your Brand

I’ve always recommended leaning into your brand and brand messaging when it comes to SEO — your web pages, your content, and even your client journey should be influenced by your brand. When Google leaked this past March, it was shown that branding plays a role in how your website is ranked and indexed.

So, rather than shying away from your branding for better SEO performance, lean into it!

How to Improve Your Website’s SEO

Until you have an SEO strategy designed for you, it’s best to follow SEO best practices to the best of your ability — meaning you should always consider how much time, money, and energy you have to put into your SEO. Depending on that, take on tasks with higher priority (such as making sure you’re not doing anything to hurt your SEO) before tackling anything else. 

But, if you want to make more impact and improve your SEO, download my free checklist to get started!

About Âme Creatives

I’m Kelli, an SEO Strategist & Showit Web Designer — I’m on a mission to help female entrepreneurs (like you)  have a purpose-driven, strategically optimized website that helps you be SEEN, HEARD, and PAID. It’s about more than just pretty websites, keywords and first-page status; it’s about giving your brand the spotlight it deserves by bringing in your ideal audience organically. Ready to take the next step? Send me a message!