Avoiding bad habits when it comes to SEO is virtually as important as understanding and following the good SEO habits. Don’t know what SEO is? Read my article entitled Search Engine Optimization Overview.
When talking about SEO practices to avoid, we should begin with one basic rule: Don’t try to cheat the system. Sooner or later, search engines figure out that you are trying to cheat and the punishment won’t be pretty. Not only will your website be monitored more closely, all the hard work you put into perfecting the SEO of your pages will be lost when the search engines take you out of the search results completely. It’s always best to stay away from shady SEO tactics and stay with what has been proven to work.
Another practice to avoid is making your website too high-tech. For example, if you use a lot of Flash in your website, you could jeopardize your SEO. The same can be said for website that use a lot of images or anything else that is hard for search engines to process and figure out what your website is about.
Don’t go overboard in regards to using keyword phrases. Search engines penalize websites that blatantly repeat keyword phrases. Keep a natural flow and feel to the wording on your website. Three or four instances of a keyword phrase in your main text is sufficient.
Avoid spamming the link to your website around the internet. Not all incoming links are good links. In fact, if you post a link at another website which is known for its spamming habits, that could actually hurt you in the eyes of a search engine. If you are going to link to your website, be sure to do it where you are allowed and on websites that have a good reputation.
A final practice to avoid is becoming impatient. Mastering SEO can take a while. On top of that, search engines are by nature slow to notice changes made in your SEO habits. Don’t panic and instead remain dedicated to improving your SEO. Eventually, it will pay off and you will be rewarded with more visitors to your website.
Read the other parts to my SEO series:
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