Let me ask you a question.  What is the purpose of Search Engine Optimization, or SEO?  Well, it’s to get a high search engine ranking, of course.  Mistakes, unfortunately, which you make along the way will have an adverse effect on the success of your SEO campaign.  The end result?  A low search engine ranking.

SEO is not a nuclear science, but you must have a certain level of understanding in order to implement it’s techniques properly.  This is why I have put together a few common SEO mistakes you should avoid if you desire a top 10 ranking.

Here are 4 common SEO mistakes to avoid:

No Keyword Research

Keywords are an important part of the whole search engine ranking process.  Keyword’s will shape the entire campaign.  They are used throughout the whole content creation phase, and they will appear within anchor texts.

Well placed keywords will increase your search engine ranking, and it will possibly give you a top 10 ranking for certain keywords and key phrases.

Keywords are essentially the lifeblood of SEO.  So, if you are using the wrong keywords, you will kill your organic search efforts.  It will result in missed opportunities for high search engine placement, and in bad traffic that will not convert.

Therefore, proper keyword research is essential to the success of your SEO campaign.

Bad Content

If keywords are the lifeblood of your SEO efforts, then, content is the heart.  If you have no content, then, there is nothing to “optimize”.  If there is nothing to optimize, then, there is nothing for the search engines to capture.

Back in the early days of the internet, it was okay to write your content with the robots in mind, and most websites were almost unreadable by humans…  But the spiders LOVED those websites.

Today content is king!  The purpose of Google is to deliver quality content within their search results.  Therefore, Google has had to evolve their search algorithms.  Now Google’s spiders are more humanized than ever before.  No longer can you write for the spiders, but you MUST write for the reader.

Keep that in mind.  Do not over use your keywords.  If you do, you will get a lower search engine ranking.  Publishing low quality content can actually do more harm than publishing no content at all.

How do you combat this?  Just publish for your readers.  When you do this, everything else will fall into place.

Building the Wrong Links

Just like your content, link building will need to be focused on quality.  One link back to your site from a well respected and trusted industry website is worth WAY more than one hundred links from low quality article directories.

Contrary to the popular belief, it’s not all about quantity…  It’s all about quality.  Google and the other search engines will reward you for quality.

Not Leveraging Social Media

SEO and social media, like Facebook, are no longer two separate entities.  Fact is, the search engines have been incorporating certain social signals into their ranking algorithms for a while now.

You see, ranking is based solely on trust and quality.  Search engines believe that content which is shared, liked, +1’d, re-tweeted and so forth is trusted content of high quality.

You cannot afford to not have SEO working for you!  If you need help in developing your very own SEO campaign, you should look into outsourcing your search engine optimization services needs to an internet marketing company which specializes in website seo services.

Why do this?  Well, so you can stay focused and do what you do best — run your business.