Every single SEO professional out there is aware of the fact that the strategies that worked in the past do not necessarily work forever. Google’s ranking algorithm keeps evolving so SEO professionals keep adapting. The best strategies you used in the past might actually hurt you today.
2022 will be a very interesting year for search engine optimization. There will be many interesting things that are expected, ranging from more focus put on user experience to the influence of voice search. At the same time, there will be many SEO specialists that will fail to adapt. This is why we should highlight the following major SEO mistakes you have to avoid this year.
Slow Page Loading Speed
The premise behind this mistake is very simple. As people use mobile devices more and more to browse the internet, page loading speed becomes more important. When a user has to wait for several seconds to see your content, there is a really good possibility he/she will leave.
Page speed is now officially a ranking factor used by Google to analyze pages. Having slow loading pages will hurt your rankings.
Fortunately, you can speed up any website with the use of various strategies. Some of the most common techniques used right now are:
- Optimizing images.
- Optimizing website scripts.
- Fixing page redirects.
- Removing images or other design elements.
- Removing code that is not necessary.
- Using a CDN.
As the website is sped up, overall SEO rankings are increased and you can expect the traffic gained to be more engaged.
Using Duplicate Content
Duplicate content is no longer as damaging as it used to be. It no longer leads to a Google penalty. However, this does not mean that SEO rankings will not be lowered when you use it.
Google has a very simple goal. It wants to show highly relevant results for the user. When there are many pages with the same content, Google shows only one, the one considered to be the most relevant. This is why it would be a huge SEO mistake to use duplicate content in 2021 simply because it no longer penalizes websites.
Always deliver the best possible content, and make sure it is unique.
Thinking More Backlinks Means Higher Ranking
This is surprising to see in 2022 but there are still so many that think more backlinks automatically means higher ranking. People have been highlighting that backlink quality is much more important for years but the mistake is still so prevalent.
Modern link building needs to focus on quality and authority. A single backlink can be more valuable and influence rankings more than thousands of the quick, low-quality backlinks we can easily generate through blog comments or other similar methods.
The key takeaway here is that whenever you build a backlinking strategy, you need to find the most relevant websites that could link to you. This is what improves overall rankings, not quantity.
Not Using Local SEO
There is this common misconception that local SEO is only useful for businesses that have a brick and mortar store, a physical location. This is incorrect because of two reasons:
- Every single legit business has a legal physical address that can be used for local SEO.
- Local SEO rankings are more and more important because people use their mobile devices to browse the internet.
Fortunately, serious SEO agencies adapted and they are aware of how important local SEO is. In fact, there is a high possibility some local optimization strategies are used even without the knowledge of the client.
The importance of local SEO does not mean that you are forced to hire an optimization specialist that is physically located in the targeted area. For instance, if you need to rank a website in Canberra, you do not need a company physically based there, although an SEO agency might be beneficial in some cases. What you need is someone that understands how to use the best local search engine optimization strategies to benefit the website.
Thinking More Pages Leads To More Traffic
It is easy to understand why so many business owners think that when a site has many pages more traffic will come in. However, this is just a huge misconception. In reality, when you have too many pages and they are of low quality, your SEO rankings for the entire website will suffer.
Whenever creating a business website, all pages need to be properly planned. The content creation strategy you use should be built around the creation of high-quality content. This should be done consistently and it is correct that when you have more high-quality content, it is beneficial. But if you just publish content to have as many articles as possible, rankings eventually go down.
Not Optimizing For Mobile Users
Although the year is 2022, there are still so many businesses with websites that are only optimized for desktop computers. When you do not optimize for mobile users, you miss out on numerous potential sales and leads.
Remember that over 50% of modern internet traffic comes from mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets. This number will keep growing as technology becomes more and more accessible. With this in mind, SEO needs to optimize the website for mobile users. Responsive design is right now the norm and old strategies, like having different site versions for different devices, are obsolete.
Final Thoughts
The best SEO strategies keep changing and evolving. This happens more frequently than people think. Nowadays, the most important thing is offering the best possible quality with the published content and using optimization strategies that revolve around different types of users, with different search intents.
Always avoid the 2022 SEO mistakes we highlighted above since they will hurt your search results rankings much more than you might initially think. Also, make sure you stay up-to-date with modern optimization strategies that are effective and deliver the results you are looking for. Google keeps changing its algorithm and we never know what the next big trend will be. However, when you focus on quality, no matter what you do, rankings will increase.