Are you tired of all that organic search traffic clogging up your website? Do you wish your search ranking would just plummet to the depths of obscurity? Well, have no fear - there are plenty of things you can do to sabotage your own SEO efforts! (don't try this at home, web edition)
If you're running a website, one of your main goals is probably to get traffic from search engines. Organic search traffic is highly valuable, as it's free and often highly targeted. However, getting your website to rank highly in search engine results pages (SERPs) isn't always easy. There are many factors that can negatively affect your organic search ranking and we'll go over those below:
Poor-quality content
One of the most important factors in search engine ranking is content quality. Search engines want to provide their users with the most relevant and valuable content possible. If your website has poor-quality content that's thin, duplicated, or doesn't provide any value to the user, your rankings are likely to suffer. It's important to create high-quality, original content that's well-written and provides value to your audience.
Keyword stuffing
In the early days of search engine optimization (SEO), it was common to "stuff" web pages with keywords in an attempt to rank higher. However, search engines have become much more sophisticated in recent years, and they now penalize websites that engage in keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing can include using irrelevant or low-quality keywords, or using the same keyword over and over again on a page.
Broken links
Links are an important ranking factor, both internal and external links. However, if your website has a lot of broken links, it can negatively affect your search ranking. Broken links can lead to a poor user experience, which search engines take into account when ranking websites. Make sure to regularly check for broken links on your website and fix them as soon as possible.
Slow page speed
Page speed is another important ranking factor, as search engines want to provide their users with a fast and seamless browsing experience. If your website takes a long time to load, it can negatively affect your search ranking. To improve your website's page speed, you can compress images, minimize HTTP requests, and reduce the size of your website's code.
Poor mobile optimization
More and more users are accessing the internet on their mobile devices, so it's important to ensure that your website is optimized for mobile. If your website isn't mobile-friendly, it can negatively affect your search ranking. Make sure to use responsive design, which adjusts the layout of your website to fit the screen size of the user's device.
Lack of backlinks
Backlinks are an important ranking factor, as they indicate that other websites see your content as valuable and authoritative. If your website doesn't have many backlinks, it can negatively affect your search ranking. You can improve your backlink profile by creating high-quality content, reaching out to other websites to request a link, and using social media to promote your content.
What can you do?
By creating high-quality, valuable content and optimizing your website for both users and search engines, you can improve your search ranking and attract more organic traffic to your website. For more reading, visit the SEO section of our Blog.
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