7 of the Biggest Article Writing Mistakes SEO Agencies Make
- November 13 2014
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Offering search engine optimization services to clients can be a highly profitable business, especially with everyone moving their companies to the digital world. However, there are common mistakes that can be easily prevented, but oftentimes are not, causing SEO agencies to lose clients. As with any Internet company, SEO agencies need to maintain a good reputation for its services, which is why it should avoid the following 7 biggest mistakes that are made when writing content.
1. Creating Content that Isn’t Link-Worthy
Search engines have changed the way they rank Web sites and now require a more human touch to the content that’s posted. With authority rankings now in play, people are now in charge of how well your content will rank. For this reason, it is important for your content to not only read well, but be shareable, aka link-worthy. To do this, you need to have content that is highly informal, educational or entertaining to your target audience. The more likeable your content is, the more it will be shared on social media networks and blogs.
2. Using Content that isn’t Original
In the past, you could get away with using duplicate or plagiarized content for Web sites, but today you will be penalized for these actions. It can be tempting to practice this, especially with the time and money that has to be spent to create unique content. Not only will plagiarized content damage your rankings in search engines, it will also affect how people view your brand. If you want your client to be seen as an authority, then you will need to make content that is from their business, not someone else’s.
3. Writing Content that Isn’t Focused on the User’s Intent
When people come to the Web site or blog, what is their intent? If the content placed on there does not match with what they’re looking for, then they will quickly leave. This defeats the purpose of content marketing. To help identify the intent of visitors to the site, surveys can be given and Google analytics can be used to find the demographic. Other ways to find this out would be to talk to the business’s customer service reps, use customer feedback forms and talk to the sales people. The more you know, the better you can write the content to fit that particular target audience.
4. Not Implementing Solid Social Media Marketing Strategies
Promoting the content written for your clients is important for gaining viewers. Search engines love keywords and links, but social media shares and likes are just as highly ranked. Managing a social media account that promotes blog content and opens up conversations for engagement are key marketing strategies that can be used for SEO and boosting traffic to the business Web site or blog.
5. Thinking SEO is a “Set it and Forget it” Job
Search engines like Google are always making changes to what’s acceptable SEO. Just think of what happened to the old keyword-stuffed Web sites that ranked highly years ago. Where do you think they are today? If they were smart, they changed their SEO strategy, so that they could have a chance of one day ranking highly again. The same could happen in the future for whatever SEO methods you are using today, which means you have to abreast of the modifications and be prepared to make proper changes right away.
6. Not Using Search Terms that People Use
There are many different ways that keywords can be used in a search term. Studying the different variations and pinpointing the most popular is important before including any in your page content. For example, the keyword “Kia Optima costs” would more than likely be typed into a search term as “how much does a Kia Optima cost?” The closer your search terms are to the actual phrases people type into search engines, the higher the potential your pages will rank highly for them.
7. Using Too Many Keywords Per Page
Overstuffing content for the sake of SEO is a method that is becoming instinct and for good reason. Search engines are looking to rank content that is written for people, not search engine spiders. So if you are placing a large amount of keywords into your content, it’s likely not going to read well, which will make your site plummet to the bottom of the ranks. Penalties have already been placed on lots of Web sites these past few years, which means this is becoming a serious threat. It is important for SEO agencies to understand how to optimize their clients’ content without the risk of penalties.
As an SEO agency, you are sought after because of your expertise. When your content is not producing the results your clients are looking for, then your reputation will suffer, and so will your agency.
Stuart McHenry
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- 7 of the Biggest Article Writing Mistakes SEO Agencies Make - November 13, 2014
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