Beginning SEO and SEM Mistakes

[tritrain]

When you first started doing SEO/SEM you probably made a few mistakes in judgment that may have cost you.

I can say that when I first started marketing one of my first sites I made a big mistake. I was deemed a spammer by one of the largest forums of the specific category. It didn't take much to be called a spammer (they're very picky about what is done there). Since then I've learned to be much more subtle about including links in forums, commenting in blogs, etc.

My number one SEO mistake is spamming.

Here's my top beginner SEO/SEM mistakes that people make (not necessarily me!):

1. Spamming - Be subtle and careful; provide a thoughtful post or comment or don't post at all.
2. Linkbuilding "schemes" - Getting involved in linkbuilding techniques such as automated reciprocal linking and linking to unrelated pages/sites or bad neighborhoods (ie. link farms).
3. Impatience - Linkbuilding is a continuous and often slow process. Be patient!
4. Search Engine Friendly Titles and URLs - Begin the process of onsite and onpage SEO before you create the site content and begin linkbuilding.


Any others?

I'll add more as I think of them.

[KingPin]

Before anything I would carry out Competitive Research.

KP

[yummytork]

I got banned from Wikipedia 3 times before I learned how to contribute thoughtfully and usefully.

1. ALWAYS read the article history and discussion page before you try changing ANYTHING.
2. Read the SEO guidelines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Search_engine_optimization) on Wikipedia. They were written mostly by an seo guru by the name of Mr. Hochman, a Yale grad and very smart seo person.
3. ALWAYS cite your sources.
4. Be very open to criticism and changes to your content. That's what makes Wikipedia great. Other people contributing to your stuff will almost always make it many times better than you could ever do by yourself.

[Web Gazelle]

I got banned from Wikipedia 3 times before I learned how to contribute thoughtfully and usefully.

1. ALWAYS read the article history and discussion page before you try changing ANYTHING.
2. Read the SEO guidelines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Search_engine_optimization) on Wikipedia. They were written mostly by an seo guru by the name of Mr. Hochman, a Yale grad and very smart seo person.
3. ALWAYS cite your sources.
4. Be very open to criticism and changes to your content. That's what makes Wikipedia great. Other people contributing to your stuff will almost always make it many times better than you could ever do by yourself.

And be sure to add a link to your friend's site whenever possible. :3076: Thanks Yummytork!

[webfinity]

A big mistake, and one that I have made, is optimizing for junk phrases that aren't ever searched.

[KingPin]

A big mistake, and one that I have made, is optimizing for junk phrases that aren't ever searched.

Excellent quote!

This is really simple but some people just can't get their head around it....

If it's not searched on, it's not a keyword. It's as pure and as simple as that.

Almost anyone can rank number one for an obscure keyword.

KP

[esidyo]

The biggest mistake is impatience, 100% Harms your work !

[Paz]

I think my biggest seo mistakes include;

a robots.txt file that caused most of my site to be de-indexed.
optimising for a keyword phrase that didn't drive useful traffic (ditto do keyword research).
buying high PR links for a site that had a lot of duplicate content issues.
over-optimising a keyword phrase in my backlink campaign.

and there are others!

Luckily I learn from my mistakes. :3070:

[FireTown]

My biggest mistake was to listen too much to people who knew a little bit, but only enough to sell their services on forums.
Overoptimization was a result of that and my rankings fell.
I didn know what I was doing wrong, since I thought I was on the right track.
Ever since I've been keeping my eyes wide open. I read advice, take it to heart, but what I more than anything pay attention to is the results that I get and my own experience.

[KingPin]

The biggest mistake I made was listening to too many people when I started out.

I had a site up and I would have one person tell me one thing and someone else tell me another so my site was forever changing and I was being pushed from pillar to post.

In the end I got tired of it and decided to do listen to what people have to say, pull out all the bits I thought was relevant, try it then draw up some conclusions.

I think thats why I love experimental SEO. You will always get SEOs disagreeing on some points. Page Rank is a prime example.

KP

[FireTown]

Focus on the search engines and not the ones trying to figure them out. :)

[tritrain]

Another big one is making the site strictly for SEO and forgetting the visitors.

[seojoe]

Another big one is making the site strictly for SEO and forgetting the visitors.

Yes indeed. Don't do it if you want repeat visitors [or unless your site is that great]

My first mistake was too much keyword density. I thought that, the more the keyword density - the better and i made pages with 12-20% keyword density :3077:

[rmccarley]

When you first started doing SEO/SEM you probably made a few mistakes in judgment that may have cost you.
...

3. Impatience - Linkbuilding is a continuous and often slow process. Be patient!


Hey! Impatience is not just for beginners. I still get impatience. And so do my clients :3072:

The biggest mistake is impatience, 100% Harms your work !

Most of the time. I have however learned many lessons much faster than I would have otherwise and figured out places to cut down my process to get faster results. Be driven, just don't get emotional about it.

And that was one of my first mistakes - taking the SERPs personally. Why is Google out to get ME!?

A big mistake, and one that I have made, is optimizing for junk phrases that aren't ever searched.

Oh boy. I'm guilty of that. Why put in the work for a phrase that will drive a couple hundred or thousand visitors when the same effort will get you 4? LOL

I think my biggest seo mistakes include;
buying high PR links for a site that had a lot of duplicate content issues.


Something I figured out quickly is how to determine if a partner is worth anything.

My first mistake was too much keyword density. I thought that, the more the keyword density - the better and i made pages with 12-20% keyword density :3077:

Um... you are making the mistake that KW density means anything now. Look into term weight. That may explain why what you are doing seems to get better results ;)

Another big mistake I made coming up was thinking anything SEO was gospel. And thinking that Google really meant to do no evil. Also thinking that there was a magic bullet or magic formula for rank. What works on one site can give indicators of what will work elsewhere but each category and KW needs its own individual attention (unless you are BH...)

[seojoe]

Look into term weight.



Never heard of that one.
Would you mind explaining what "term weight" is ?

[rmccarley]

Term Weight is basically taking your desired KWs and making sure they appear on the page in question more than any other phrase. Check out SEOmoz for better information on that. Or look for Dr. Garcia who knows a lot about it.

Another BIG, HUGE SEO mistake I still make is trying to do too much - social media marketing, linkedin, facebook, digg, reddit, etc., etc. These all take time and trying to master them takes more time.

[pinoguin]

Thanks for the tips, it should prove useful for someone starting out like me

[smoothcall]

I just launched a new site and I did purchase links in blog posts, purchased signature links, and submitted to many directories both paid and free, I don't want to start my page off on the wrong foot, did I make a mistake here?

btw, I did order the SEO for dummies so if this is a stupid question I am sorry hopefully I'll get better soon!

[tritrain]

One of my biggies was believing in keyword density, which I'm not a follower of it anymore. However, it still is heavily debated. *Maybe my opinion will change again. Who knows?

http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/seo-blog/index.php/keyword-density-seo-myth/
http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/whos-tedster-if-youre-an-seo-you-should-know

The things that changed my mind
http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=4961
http://www.e-marketing-news.co.uk/Mar05/garcia.html

[mit]

We are human, and we do mistakes and learn ..

Actually, things are changing everyday in this Search engine optimization and internet marketing field. So, we have to learn on everyday basis through good forums, sites and SEO information blogs.

I was impatient and did many mistakes like keyword stuffing in header and bottom to make my website in top positioning when i started my SEO carrer.

[Corvinus]

The biggest mistake is impatience, 100% Harms your work !

Yes I agree with that... Seo needs patience, the result will not come overnight just continue doing what you think is right for your site..

[Arleigh]

I was also impatient when I started my SEO career. And i think, that's one of my mistakes.