I am going to share a short story with all of you that I am sure you have all faced at some point or seen.
After you launch your website, and you are a bit familiar with search engine optimization, the first thing you do is conduct keyword research and implement it within your new site and apply some proven SEO tips. Therefore, you’ll gradually begin to appear higher in the SERPs list after a few days, but it will eventually stop. In spite of the fact that your page rank arrived on the second page, no matter how hard you work it won’t land on the first page.
Does this sound familiar to you?
There is no need to feel bad about it, we have all been in that position, where we are unsure about what wrong we have done. What is preventing it from going up? It is easy to overdo or over-complicate things when it comes to seo, and there is always the possibility of doing things incorrectly. It’s unfortunate that I’m not able to solve your problem to the fullest extent, however, I would like to point out some of the most common WordPress SEO problems so that you can review your site and make adjustments as necessary.
In regards to SEO, it is important to recognize that the same elements can serve both as a boon and a hindrance. Understanding your website in-depth and devising a plan that works best for your particular website is the trick to success. In the following list, you can find some of the most common mistakes made on the Internet.
1) Not setting google analytics and google search console
If you are interested in tracking the performance of your website in Google with its Search Console and monitoring the data on audiences and conversions in its Google Analytics, you may do so. In this way, you can get an insight into the behavior of your audience, the sources of your targeted traffic as well as the achievements of your goals. The information provided by Google Search Console is an invaluable tool for optimizing a website technically.
The first thing you need to do in Google Analytics is set up destination goals.
Using this tool, you will be able to measure how much of your organic traffic converts into sales. When someone purchases your product, create a thank you page or a congratulations page. (i.e., the prospect purchases your product, signs up for your virtual seminar, subscribes to your newsletter, etc.).
This page can be used to measure if you’re making progress toward your conversion goals.
2) Metadata not setup
The use of title tags is absolutely essential for search engine optimization and social media sharing. When Google displays your page’s title tag, only the first 50-60 characters are displayed. There is no question that if your title tag is within the 60-character limit, then you are going to have an easier time achieving a better ranking because your title is the best reflection of your web page’s content. Additionally, it is important to ensure that every single page of your website has a unique title tag.
On a search result page, the meta description is the short opening description that is immediately below the title. Basically, the meta description must include the following:
- Make sure to include a call-to-action
- Each page of the website must be unique
- The focus keyword should be included
- Your content should match your brand
- An average of 160 characters
To identify all metadata problems on your website, you can use the Website SEO Checker tool. This tool will perform a detailed website SEO audit and provide tips on how to fix all the identified problems.
3) You don’t have an XML Sitemap
An XML Sitemap is a list of all of the pages, posts, and media on your website that has been organized into a logical structure. Any pages that have not been indexed by Google or other search engines will be notified to you by this tool.
You may create a sitemap with the Yoast SEO plugin by going to SEO > XML Sitemaps and following the instructions. After that, you can submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and instruct it to index the specific page or post that you want to rank for in search.
4) Broken links
Broken links and 404 errors not only harm the user experience but can also have a negative impact on your search engine optimization (SEO).
Some SEO extensions and plugins will monitor and verify the functionality of all of your internal links, while others will perform the same task for you.
In the event that you are not utilizing an SEO plugin, or if yours lacks this functionality, refrain from issuing a mayday call. Broken Link Checker is a tool that allows you to quickly identify broken links on your website while it is being used.
We all get 404 errors now and then, and Google is well aware of this fact.
Allowing a 404 error page to appear on specific sites if you have genuinely deleted them and do not intend to replace them is allowed. Google will eventually remove the pages from its index.
It’s always a good idea to create a unique 404 page that includes connections to other resources on your site in order to keep your visitors from becoming furious and abandoning your site altogether.
5) The website is not optimized for mobile
Because we now live in a mobile-first environment, many people prefer to use their mobile devices rather than their personal computers. The fact that responsive websites account for more than half of Google’s search results demonstrates a number of advantages for businesses.
At the same time, if your page is not optimized for mobile devices, you will most certainly lose visitors. Unless you’ve taken advantage of this functionality, your site is also missing out on some of the most cutting-edge design strategies available on the market.
6) Right keywords not optimized
The most prevalent mistake we have seen in our years of web development is a failure to undertake keyword research before creating a website. Most organizations would create content that includes keywords based on their perspective of their product or service, rather than the other way around. This is one of the most horrific and frequently occurring errors we have observed. Instead, keyword research should be focused on customer intent, or on what purchasers are looking for when they are searching.
Knowing the keywords or keyword phrases that potential customers are using to find a product or service that is comparable to yours can help you select exactly what information to add to your website content and what information to leave out. Also as a result of your efforts to determine the search intent of your customers, not only will traffic to your website increase, but your conversion rate should improve as well as a result of the higher quality of your leads.
7) Slow-loading website
Web pages that take too long to load might be catastrophic to a website’s success. As a result, according to studies, up to 10% of visitors will abandon a page if it takes more than two seconds to load, and another 33% will abandon a page if it takes more than seven seconds. According to the most recent data from Google, more than 50% of mobile phone users abandon a page that takes longer than three seconds to load. Here are a few suggestions for improving the speed of your website:
- Optimize Image Sizes
The size of your photos can make a considerable difference in the speed with which your page loads. While it is recommended to use image file formats such as JPG, PNG, and GIF, scaling photographs to 72dpi or just compressing them using a variety of free internet tools can also be beneficial in certain situations like tinypng and squoosh.
- Correctly Configure Caching
Every piece of content on your website – text, photographs, themes, and videos – gets loaded each time a visitor comes to the page and loads it. Caching is enabled on a website, which means that the information is cached and may be retrieved quickly when a visitor returns.
- Optimize Dependencies
A number of content management system (CMS) platforms include plugins in the website development process with the goal of adding functionality and aesthetics. Plugins, for example, might cause a page to load slowly; therefore, it’s always important to utilize the most recent versions of plugins and to remove those that are no longer necessary. CMS platforms such as WordPress require a regular software upgrade, so make sure you are running the most up-to-date version by checking them on a regular basis.
8) Database error
This screen will appear if you receive an error message when attempting to create a database connection.
If this is the case, the following options may be considered as solutions:
Make contact with your WordPress host: It is conceivable that they are experiencing difficulties.
Open your WordPress configuration file (wp-config.php): This can be accomplished through the use of a file manager or the FTP protocol (FTP). Edit the file if necessary to correct the database’s, host’s, username’s, and password’s names.
Verify that you have not been hacked: Despite the fact that WordPress is SEO-friendly (for a variety of reasons, including the abundance of SEO plugins such as Yoast), it is more vulnerable to hacking than other types of websites. Contact your developer or run a security check using a security tool to determine if it has been compromised. If it has, immediately reset your login credentials and restore the site from a backup (more on that below!).
9) Bad content quality
Hiring low-paid article writers and using article spinners, which are software programs that take a single article and “re-words” it so that it appears to search engines as numerous independent pieces, are two popular strategies for producing a large amount of material quickly and efficiently.
Why is this not a prudent course of action in the first place?
It is important to consider the impression that the material will have on visitors, even if the content has been adequately optimized. You will lose their trust and will have a far more difficult time persuading them to take action if you provide them with information that is not distinctive and worthwhile.
For this reason, if you’re considering outsourcing material, look for writers that can come up with original works that you’ll be proud to post on your website. Even though you’ll most probably have them a little more, if it leads to a significant boost in conversions, the investment will be significantly more profitable.
10) Building Quantity of Link instead of Quality of Link
You include links in your article for a reason other than to send readers to other resources. Furthermore, they are important for search engines, as they are used to identify which pages are the most important. When content writers miss or overlook this step, it has a negative impact on search engine optimization.
In order for your article to be successful, you must add a few links. Visitors should be able to navigate between external information and internal pages on your website using these links. Additionally, when they are inserted into the text, they should appear as natural as possible to the reader. For example, they should be as descriptive as possible of the information that has been cited.
It is crucial to include these links in your SEO strategy since they not only keep users engaged, but also signal to search engines that your material is of high quality. Additionally, they drive viewers to conversion pages as well as additional content on the website.
Those who pay close attention to this content will note how many contextual links we include – such as the one in the preceding paragraph – to help you find more information.
Key takeaway
If you investigate the top technical issues – in conjunction with their respective solutions – detailed in this post, you will be able to quickly improve your SERP visibility, and you can conclude that this will have a highly positive impact overall on the experience of your site for the searchers.