10 Things That Can Negatively Impact Your SEO Campaign

An effective SEO campaign is essential for any business that wishes to trade online. Search engine optimisation is the best way to ensure your website gets found and ranked for appropriate search terms.

Otherwise, how would anybody know that you were there? They wouldn’t! Rather than tell you everything that works for an SEO campaign, here are 10 things that can negatively impact it:

1. Lazy Keyword Research

Keyword research is one of the most important parts of an SEO campaign. If you don’t do it properly, it doesn’t matter how effective the rest of your campaign is. It’ll all be pointless! Get your keyword research spot on right from the get go so you can get amazing results.

2. Duplicate Content

Duplicate content can sometimes appear by accident, so it’s best if you work with a professional who can help you to get rid of these pages. You may not necessarily be able to see them, but Google will! Duplicate content also refers to content you’ve copied elsewhere off the web. Your whole site should be original and unique; unique enough to pass something like Copyscape. Don’t copy any other content!

3. Spammy/Low Quality Links

Having spammy, low quality links coming in and going out will be detrimental to your campaign. In the eyes of Google, it’s no longer about the amount of links you have. It’s the quality of links you have. Always go for quality over quantity.

4. Spammy Comments on Blogs

Leave helpful comments on blogs that you read, rather than spammy comments trying to get your name out there. Spammy comments don’t have to contain business information or anything you’re trying to promote; it could simply be that you’ve put ‘good work!’. This comment isn’t helpful, and it looks like no thought has gone into it. Try putting your own ideas and thoughts in a comment instead.

5. Keyword Stuffing

Stuffing your keywords into your content won’t look natural to your users or to Google. Instead of trying to make it so that Google notices your content, make it easy for your users to read. Concentrate on their experience rather than Google’s when designing your campaign for the best effect.

6. Hidden Content

If you have to hide your content, it shouldn’t be there in the first place. Some people try to include keywords on their pages and make them invisible so it isn’t obvious they’re trying to cheat. You’ll always get penalised for this, so don’t do it!

7. PDFs

PDFs on your website can cause problems for SEO. This is for a number of reasons; lack of code editing capabilities and lack of tracking mechanisms to name just a few.

8. A Complicated URL

Your URL should be fairly simple and contain relevant keywords. Things can get messy if it’s too long, doesn’t contain keywords, and isn’t user friendly.