The concept of search engine optimization is a constantly evolving one and has been in a perpetual state of flux for years and years. Most experts in the field can gradually become accustomed to the changes as they occur, but this does not mean that mistakes are not made or that all mistakes will be instantly noticed. With so much to worry about when maintaining content and search engine optimization, mistakes are bound to happen. Below, we will summarize four mistakes that may cause glaring errors in the eyes of search engines and rankings, but that might not be instantly recognizable to the very busy, overwhelmed eye.

Thinking Links Build Reputation

All webmasters want their websites to perform well in search engine results, but there is debate as to just how to do that. While links do still provide intrinsic value to upgrading your performance with search queries, it is not the end all, be all solution for success. Pinging servers of successful sites for information regarding this will show you that social media, author ranking via Google and the age of your site all play a larger role in building site authority and link reputation than simply adding links and hoping for the best.

Churning Out Lots of OK Content

Some webmasters feel that if they meet the bare minimum in regards to producing acceptable, standard-level content – but produce a lot of it – that they will build authority and reputation as their site increases the number of pages and content it has. While this rings true for sites with absolute TONS of content, it is not an effective strategy for a site that is attempting to break into the ranks of search engine results. Focus more on creating pieces of content that are lengthy, very detailed and that directly relate to the subject material of your website.

Pushing Too Many Links to Your Homepage

A well-connected website makes for easy indexing and navigation, but the mistake of linking too much to your homepage is one mistake that many webmasters make time and time again. Some of the most successful websites on the internet have a very low ratio of internal links pointing at their homepage: in many cases, the number is less than two percent of all links on the entire site. Instead of always pointing to your home page, focus on directing users to other relevant pages on your website for additional information; this will grow the number of links you have while avoiding duplication.

Creating Links Too Quickly

Search engines take into account how long a site has existed when evaluating its ranking, pinging servers for these details along with a myriad of other information. If you have just started a website (and by “just started”, meaning within the past few months), you will want to be careful not to appear to be spamming links on both your own site and backlinks to your site from others. This makes search engines raise an eyebrow when analysing your site, possibly labelling it as a potential negative SEO venture. The short term benefits of building a massive amount of links can be recognized, but they will always be negated once search engines update and take into account your practices.