The Reciprocal Consulting Blog

Thanks to all those SEO books that came out over the past 10 years there are a lot of small business owners who are making SEO mistakes over and over again. They don’t know they’re making mistakes. They’re doing things the way their SEO taught them to. But the problem is the Internet, and the search engines, have changed a lot in the last decade.

Here are 5 big SEO mistakes that most small business owners are still making:

1. Key stuffing – This is the practice of adding too many keywords to your web pages so that you rank higher for those keywords. The problem is, if the search engines catch on that you are putting too many keywords into your content, then you will lose rankings.
2. Spammy links – Many webmasters and small business owners are still chasing spammy links. Many are still using article marketing techniques from 5 or 10 years ago. These usually lead to spammy links. What will happen is the search engines will discount those links, so all your efforts to acquire them was wasted.
3. Lack of link diversity – In your effort to rank well for your pet keywords you end up using the same anchor text for your links over and over again. Search engines like to see diversity in anchor text.
4. Buying links – Here’s another big one. Many small business owners get roped into buying links. If they are found out, they will likely have their sites de-indexed.
5. Duplicate content – Are you still using article directories and taking articles that other people are using too? They won’t rank. How about plagiarizing? I am amazed to see how many small business owners lift content from other websites. This will hurt your business.

1. If you want to make your SEO better, start by avoiding these common SEO mistakes.

There is a misconception among many search engine optimization specialists that SEO must be a focus of content or the content just isn’t good. The truth is, great content and great SEO compliment each other. They can co-exist without hurting each other.

The key to this SEO philosophy is in the use of keywords and links. Keywords are the fuel in every search engine optimization strategy. You don’t want to overdo it, but you must do it.

What does that mean, exactly?

Keywords are a matter of targeting the right phrases for the right audience. If you are trying to reach people who purchase automobiles, then you have to target the right key phrases that attract automobile buyers. If you sell Ford vehicles specifically, then target your phrases to people who buy Ford vehicles. Sounds like a no-brainer, right?

It is, but you’d be surprised at how many SEOs target the wrong keywords for their audiences.

When it comes to links, you want your links to compliment your keyword phrases. They shouldn’t dominate. Anything in moderation is better than the same thing in overdose. Use links that compliment your keywords by incorporating the keywords into the link anchor text and pointing them to relevant pages on your website. Title attributes can also compliment your anchor text.

By complimentary title attributes, I don’t necessarily mean repeating your anchor text key phrase. I mean use a phrase that compliments it and is a more nuanced way of using your important keywords.

SEO is not a science. It certainly isn’t rocket science. Your first concern should be in creating great content. Make the SEO compliment the content.

For years, leading SEO firm SEOmoz has recommended to search marketers that exact match anchor text is the way to go when building links. Yesterday, in a video and blog post, they reversed that advice and said that partial match anchor text will be important for future search marketing.

Here’s the video. Listen carefully.

So what’s he saying? Here’s how I interpret the message.

The most important factor in the way that you build links back to your web pages is to think like a human, not a robot. In other words, what comes naturally?

If you were to link from one page on the web to another without SEO being a factor – let’s say you just wanted to build a link that encouraged readers to click it and go to your page – what phrase would you use to create that link? It’s different in every circumstance. That’s why anchor text diversity is so important.

When you consider anchor text diversity, it’s important not to get into a This vs. That mentality. The question isn’t so much about whether exact match is right or wrong or whether partial match is better than exact match, but rather that both are necessary in certain situations. Your job as a search marketer or webmaster is to determine which is most appropriate for a given link on a given page.

One of the most confusing aspects of link building for a lot of webmasters and search engine optimization professionals is how to build diversity into their link portfolio.

The reason this is confusing to so many people is because many webmasters trying to do their own SEO get stuck on a single keyword phrase for their anchor text. If you focus only on your primary keyword, then you are missing out on a lot of opportunities.

Also, a huge mistake is to focus all of your link building efforts on your home page. More natural link building involves building deep links to your internal pages.

Here are six things to keep in mind when link building so that you build a more natural and diverse link portfolio:

1. Vary your anchor text. It is best to use between 5-20 different anchor text key phrases for each web page you build links to on your website.
2. Do not just link to the home page. Most of your links should point to internal web pages on your website.
3. Seek out links from a variety of types of websites (blogs, directories, forums, etc.).
4. Don’t just target high PageRank websites. You should have a good number of links from low and mid-range authority sites.
5. Build a few links from websites outside of your niche.
6. Use non-keyword types of links too. “Click here” and “go to” type links can be effective in driving traffic and are natural link building phrases. Just don’t do it too often.

A diverse link portfolio consists of high authority links, low authority links, links from a variety of different types of websites, and a diverse set of anchor text phrases.

Local search is not quite the same as organic search. Where for many years the preferred anchor text in links has been keyword orientated, local search is less keyword-based and more business or website name orientated. For local search, a link with your business name is often of more value than a link with a related keyword. In fact, there are many stories around suggesting that keywords in links are no longer the ideal – but that’s a story for another time.

When you think about local search, you have a distinct advantage over organic search. You can tell the search engines all about your business. In Google Places, for example, you can provide your official business name, your address, and your telephone number. You can also add tags and place your business into a category. With organic search, your search engine optimization program needs to use keywords to ensure the search engines know what your pages are all about.

The bottom line is this: Search engines don’t need anchor text to tell them about your business – you’ve already done that. Links that are in your business name have far more value than those with keywords as your anchor text. Add address details to the text around your business name, and you further reinforce your local search rankings. Local search is all about being local.

The more often your business is linked back to your site where your address is in plain view, or at the very least your town or region, the better. Are you pushing keywords in all your anchor text for local search? Try modifying some of your links to include your business and your town – or the service you provide and the town.

Local search is all about being local so shout your presence from the rooftops – or at least, from the friendly pages around you.