Common Errors that Damage Search Rankings
We all appreciate the power of organic search rankings, and we also realise how difficult it can be to remain on top of the best practises. It is not uncommon for websites to have SEO errors, and if you are encountering some of these you are not alone.
Let’s have a look at some of the issues that are currently damaging your rankings.
Duplicate Content
If you have two or more duplicate pages, search engines will be unsure what page to display on the search engine results page (SERPS). There are several ways around this, one of them being is to use a canonical tag. This informs search engines of the preferred pages to be indexed. Alternatively, you can delete the duplicate pages and redirect the URLs.
Legacy No-Index Tags
If you wish to hide a page from search results you need to use a no-index tag.
Occasionally, users fail to remember removing this, meaning that search engines ignore pages that should be ranked.
To avoid this problem, create a list of all no-index tagged pages. This step can be added to your publishing checklist.
Mixed Content
A website with mixed content is one that consists of both HTTP and HTTPs content. This may mean you might have an SSL installed with HTTPs across several pages. However, you will also have images, videos, scripts or other kinds of content being served by an insecure protocol (HTTP).
In 2015 Google confirmed that secure websites and HTTPs were essential ranking signals. It is vital your site is upgraded and has a quality SSL certificate installed.
To amend this common error, go to the source code of an insecure page and search for any references to HTTP opposed to HTTPs.
An excellent way to do this is by inspecting using a browser such as Google Chrome. Once you discover the insecure content, simply replace it with content from a secure form.
Orphaned Pages
These pages are not linked to any other pages on your site. This means a user cannot view your page without your URL. Generally, these are landing pages for marketing.
They are not followed from other pages by search engines, meaning they are seldom indexed by Google.
In order for search engines to crawl your site and discover your pages they need to be linked to other internal pages.
Links from Bad Pages
Obtaining links from other websites to yours is an essential element to improve your rankings in search engines. However, when working on link building it is undeniably quality over quantity that makes a difference.
Despite the fact that all backlinks are theoretically endorsements of your site, links from websites with higher domain authority are ideally the ones you want.
Ironically, even a no-follow link from a top DA site can enhance SEO rankings. On the other hand, links from low DA sites will not assist rankings.
Harmful backlinks not only damage your rankings, but also result in penalties and blacklisting from search engines.
To fix this use tools such as SEMrush. This software scans and grades all backlinks.
There are several ways to approach any toxic backlinks. You can either contact the website administrator and request the link is removed manually or you can use Google’s Disavow Tool to remove the backlink yourself.
Not Using Browser Caching
Browser caching is the ability to use a browser to locally store website files on your computer.
A cache makes it easy to rapidly retrieve data, which in turn helps your devices run faster. It acts as a memory bank, making it easy to access data locally instead of redownloading it every time you visit a website or open an app.
Caching minimises the time it takes to load your website pages, which in turn has a huge impact on search rankings.
iFrames
iFrames are very useful tools that help you bring pieces of another website onto yours to better enhance it. This works well for videos, e-commerce features, or demos.
Search engines acknowledge that the content from iFrames belong to another website. As the content does not technically exist within the code of the page, the most you can hope for is to experience no impact.
iFrames are considered to be invisible to search engines. This frequently leads to low quality pages with very little content.
Additionally, iFrames can damage load speeds and user experience scores. This is due to them being susceptible to malware.
Low Quality Content
If your posts or pages are too short or brief, it can be viewed as lazy and unhelpful by search engines. However, this does not mean the wordcount is the only ranking element.
What it means is that the content needs to explain what the reader is there to learn.
Essentially, it will be harder to rank as you will not be using enough keywords and linked words to satisfy answers to your users’ questions.
The Conclusion
Finally, it is not unusual to fall into these common SEO errors. But it is important to be aware of the impact these may have on your SEO efforts.
By making some simple alterations you will quickly see improvements in your rankings and click through rates.
If you wish to discuss your SEO concerns in more detail, please get in touch today.
Call us on 0203 150 0565 or email info@stefaniegrant.com.