Keeping up with SEO best practices these days is difficult at best. Techniques you may have used successfully for years can be rendered worthless with a single Google algorithm update.
Given the nature of this shape-shifting beast, it’s not surprising that even SEO professionals aren’t catching everything. In a recent blog post titled, 5 SEO Mistakes That Even Experts Miss, SEO guru Neil Patel pointed out a few of these mistakes you might be making right now.
Building Rich Anchor Text Links
Variety is the spice of life both in the real world, and online. But when it comes to rich anchor text links, Patel suggests taking it easy.
Not only have rich anchor text links fallen from favor with Google, they’re not exactly beacons of natural language either. While recommending SEOs use a variety of links Patel says:
Why? Because it is rare that someone would naturally link to you with rich anchor text 100% of the time.
Too Much, Too Soon
SEOs can debate whether or not paid link exchanges and other pre-Penguin practices got out of hand, but there’s no arguing that Google doesn’t approve of them.
One of the quickest ways to get Google’s attention, and a drop in Page Rankings, is to start building up your link networks too quickly.
Google overlords like Matt Cutts are pushing organic links harder than food demonstrator at Whole Foods, so they’ll notice an unnatural build up. In short, slow and steady is the mantra of the new SEO.
Too Many Homepage Links
It’s only natural to want to give your homepage the lion’s share of links, but Patel thinks that might not be such a hot idea. His recommendation is to take it easy on the homepage links while going big on the internal links.
On Wikipedia, for example, only about 1% of their links are pointed at their homepage. They’re also the sixth most popular site on the web.
Lame Content
Content mills like eHow and Demand Studios, and their 200-word nothing burgers, were the inspiration for the Panda update and the push for quality content.
They’ve also led Google to favor long-winded authors who produce quality content that actually provides readers with something of value.
Patel suggests going big with your content and running articles in the 2000-word range. It’s a suggestion he’s made in the past and seems to have the numbers to prove it, too.
2000-word articles aren’t for everyone so if you don’t have that much to say without staying relevant, don’t do it.
More Than One Way to Build Authority
While tons of links are still a great way to help establish your properties as authority sites, be sure and spread yourself out a bit. Authority can be established through:
- Social shares
- Author rank
- Age of site
Branch Out
The one consistent theme in Patel’s tips is that mixing things up is a good SEO strategy these days. Don’t get so fixated on one or two techniques that you lose site of all your other options.
What SEO mistakes do you make? Share them in the comments section below.