Common SEO Mistakes That Weaken Google Ranking

Common SEO Mistakes That Weaken Google Ranking

Google is the largest global search engine. It accounts for 70% of desktop traffic. A digital marketing speaker Hong Kong highlights the importance of SEO among brands and businesses. With 360 billion searches on Google every year, SEO results to 67.60% of all the clicks. As such, SEO is more effective than PPC. 

There are millions of websites competing to rank on Google. If you are one of them, have you ever wondered why you don’t rank on the first page? Below are some common SEO mistakes that weaken Google’s ranking.

Domain Does Not Include Keywords

Including target keywords in the website domain of a brand or business gives an edge on Google’s ranking. They act as a match and relevancy signal for Google’s patent. The easiest way to optimize your website using target keywords is by adding them as meta tags on HTML pages. Don’t include irrelevant keywords, as Google may penalize you for doing so. It is also important not to do too much keyword repetition as it will result in keyword stuffing. 

Duplicated Content 

social media agency Hong Kong notes that duplicate content can significantly weaken Google ranking. It is a big red flag to the search engine. All your website content should be accurate and first-hand. Brands and businesses can achieve this by doing thorough research and supporting their content with reputable references. They also need to check the content using plagiarism tools before uploading the content.

High Bounce Rate 

Google’s primary goal is to provide the best results among searchers’ queries. If your website’s bounce rate is too high, it may weaken your Google ranking. It is because Google views your page as not valuable to most users. A video marketing agency Hong Kong sites an example that if an audience clicks a video and leaves it after 1 to 2 seconds, it affects the video ranking. So, the key is to catch the audience’s attention in the first 3 seconds of a digital copy.

Keyword Stuffing

Keywords are vital for Google to know that your content is relevant to a web search. Brands and businesses should include as many relevant keywords to boost ranking. But keyword stuffing weakens Google’s ranking. It means including too many irrelevant keywords to trick the site. The best practice to use keywords and boost ranking is to start with your headline tag and then on the first 100 words of the page.

Non-Optimized Page Image 

Visuals make a page stand out. They can also boost SEO if optimized for a better user experience. As much as possible, brands and businesses should keep images properly sized and simple. A heavy photo with a large file size tends to load slow. It may also result in audiences not grasping the message of the image as well.

Page Loads Too Slow

One factor that prompts users to abandon a site is if the page load too slow. It weakens Google’s ranking as it does not provide a better user experience. Brands and businesses should aim for an average load speed for pages of 3 seconds or less. It is even if the suggested average load speed should be 8.66 seconds. It is because modern consumers have a much shorter attention span. A great way to speed up loading speed is to avoid too many plugins.

Poor Quality Content

Content is king. That is true even on Google ranking. Quality content gives the best solution for the audiences’ pain points and problems. It provides accurate information and valuable insights that can keep online users coming back to your site. Modern consumers are very smart. Within a glance at the content, they will leave the page if it has poor quality. It makes the page invaluable to Google users.

Unsecured Website 

Google always reminds brands and businesses that it favors HTTPS over HTTP. HTTPS websites are HTTP with encryption. Such a site is safer and more secure against hackers. It is because they have an SSL firewall that protects data while in transit. HTTP is a request and response protocol. Although it is most commonly used in data transfer, it does not provide any security features online.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Ranking on Google starts with doing the right thing. Tag your website based on your niche keyword. Publish well-organized and researched content. Make sure that they are valuable to your target audience. It is also important to keep your content, images, and page simple. This is to have a faster loading speed. If you do all of these, you’ll pretty rank on the first page of the largest global search engine – Google!

Reference: https://blog.red-website-design.co.uk/2021/11/04/2022-seo-mistakes/