Losing traffic is a nightmare for any website owner. Why? Well, It is like having a physical store but no one comes to see what you are selling. The chances of you making any sales are minimal. Nothing is more disheartening than knowing that your business might not make any profits eventually. If you are finding it hard to get traffic, or the visits to the site are reducing gradually, you are certainly making some mistakes.
We cannot talk about traffic and websites and fail to mention Search engine optimization. Why? Millions of people look for answers to their questions through search engines every day.
What is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of rules that blog/Website owners follow to improve their ranking on search engines, like Google, Bing, Yahoo, et cetera. They are the principles that Google follows when determining which websites to position on the first page and which ones to put on the last page.
SEO is critically important to website owners because:
• It is a great way of exposing your business to more people.
• A search engine-optimized website will always have more customers hence an increase in sales.
• It is a great way to reach more people by using little effort: You don't keep sharing, just optimize the website for search engines, and Google will do the rest for you.
However, getting to the first page of search engines is never easy. That said, sitting back and expecting to see massive traffic and an increase in conversion rates on your website is a mistaken idea.
Avoid making the mistakes below to get more traffic.
1. Keyword research mistake.
With the high rate of competition, There is no room for taking chances. The keywords you use should not be so hard to find. Also, they should not be too competitive to avoid difficulty in ranking. Ask yourself the following questions when doing keyword research:
I. Are your keywords targeting your audience?
II. Are they meeting your expectations?
III. Are they in high demand?
2. Being outdated
Sometimes you may rely so much on your old posts that are doing well and forget to publish new content. Google looks into several factors when ranking your work. Active websites that are updated regularly are definitely going to be ranked higher than abandoned ones.
Additionally, things are constantly changing and people's priorities change with time. This means that a new post is definitely up to date and provides the best answers users are seeking at that moment. The following areas, when revised, can make your work stand out:
Removing broken links. Sometimes the resources you used in your article might not be available anymore. The website might have shut down or the links changed.
Work on your grammar and spelling mistakes. Every time you scheme through your posts, you will notice a mistake to correct.
Add new links to better resources.
Use recent Google updates to fix issues. This enables you to stay updated on the changes Google makes.
3. Copying and publishing content
Google is so strict as far as uniqueness is concerned. On that note, your website will automatically get pushed back in the search results if found with plagiarized content. Remember, the further you go from the first page of Google search results, the more visitors your site loses.
Being real and writing meaningful content will bring out the natural you, and this enhances your credibility to the visitors and also to Google.
4. Having Poor quality links
Quality always outdoes quantity. Right? Certainly. To get traffic on your site, you must create links with websites that have a solid reputation on the internet. Use anchor texts to let people know that you have put a link. An anchor text is a text inside the link. It's the text that people click to go to the page or website you direct them to.
Avoid ’click here’ as an anchor text but rather look for a variety of eye-catching texts. Additionally, use anchor texts that flow and fit in your content naturally. Having quality links is a great way of restoring your dipping traffic.
5. Using black hat technique and link schemes
Any strategies designed to manipulate how Google ranks websites are referred to as link schemes. For example, there are fake websites that are made to make people acquire illegitimate SEO authority. The black hat technique is a strategy used in SEO whereby it does not focus on user experience but on search engines. Both Link schemes and black hat goes against Google webmaster regulations, and will definitely make you lose traffic. Sooner or later, Google will catch up with your site will suffer a huge blow. Some popular types of these schemes are:
Buying traffic.
Paid links.
It would be of great value if you built a legitimate and high-quality website. With this, you can reach out to authority sites by building up your links.
Read more about link schemes here
6. Keyword stuffing
You may feel like using the keyword in every sentence is a way of creating emphasis on the message you are trying to pass along, but it’s a mistake. Overusing keywords is a major setback to your success.
No one will have a bang reading a keyword-filled article. Focusing on high-quality work and using the keywords correctly is a stepping stone to a higher ranking. It's a way of avoiding Google penalties, poor ranking, and losing traffic.
7. Failing to Share your Content
You may have noticed that social media platforms put ads on your profiles based on what you search for often. They think you might be interested in the content. As a website owner, you need to be aware that Search engines always analyze how users interact with your brand on social platforms.
The big question is, how often do you promote your brand on those social channels? The content of your search results is highly influenced by your social profiles. By sharing your content on social media you get noticed by both the search engine and your target audience.
Bottom line
We learn through mistakes. For you to up your game, you definitely have to understand how SEO works, and also, the mistakes that can affect your traffic.