A customer’s journey starts online. A study found that 81 percent of people research online before they make a big purchase. So as a business owner, you should want your products and services to show up on these searches. 

That is where SEO, search engine optimization, can lend a helping hand. SEO is the process of optimizing a website to rank higher on search engines. Companies can do SEO on their own or hire an SEO Dallas TX agency to do these strategies. 

Whether you are doing SEO on your own or with an agency, here is a list of SEO mistakes you should try to avoid.

Thinking that you do not need SEO

Many companies make the common mistake of believing that they do not need SEO. In reality, many marketers prefer SEO as a digital marketing strategy because of its low investment and high ROI. 

A report found that 70 percent of marketers see SEO as more effective than PPC. Of course, it is important to note that SEO takes time. With time and the correct SEO strategies, you will start to see more organic traffic and qualified leads on your website. 

Keyword stuffing 

Our SEO Dallas TX experts will tell you that keywords are critical for any SEO strategy. Although keywords are critical to any strategy, how you use them is even more important. A mistake that many companies make is keyword stuffing. 

This term means that a website is filling or stuffing its webpage with keywords in hopes of ranking higher. Making this mistake causes users not to get the information they need, exit your site, and increase bounce rates. An example of keyword stuffing is when a company uses a keyword 12 times on their homepage without any context. 

Forgetting to optimize images

Images should be optimized in the same sense as a landing page, service page or a blog. Google not only shows the most relevant search results for websites but also videos and photos. If someone searches “SEO memes,” Google displays the top results of websites and images with this keyword. 

Images are just another way to rank within an industry. The kind of images that rank higher on search engines are context informative and original images. So next time you write a blog post for your company, consider adding an image or two. 

Not pushing content on social media

Creating unique and original content is part of any successful SEO strategy. Many companies make the mistake of just publishing the content and not pushing it on social media. Pushing it on social media can help search engines know that you are creating engaging and valuable content. 

For example, Hootsuite conducted a study to see if there was a direct correlation between social media and rankings in search engines. The study was conducted with three focus groups: 

• Group A: 30 articles received with no organic publishing or paid on social media anywhere

• Group B: 30 articles published organically on social media

• Group C: 30 articles that were published organically along with a spend of $100 for each boosted post. 

These groups were split up into these three categories, and the articles followed traditional SEO strategies. What were the results? After each article was posted and the baseline was set, the posts in Group C saw a 22% increase in activity. 

Hire an SEO Dallas TX expert!

If you found that your website has any of the mistakes listed above, or you want to improve the site's ranking, it is time to hire Dallas Media Group. Our team of SEO experts can develop an SEO strategy that gets you the organic traffic and qualified leads your website needs. Contact us to get started.