20 Bad WordPress SEO Habits online SEMrush meetup with Sha Menz, Tim Capper and Peter Mead. Mistakes that anyone can make. Spammy practices or cheap services. Technical Issues and errors. Lack of strategy and planning. These come about by: Being unaware of the issues, Trying to beat Google at its own game

1. 20 Bad WordPress
SEO Habits
SEMrush meetup with Sha Menz, Tim Capper and Peter Mead
@petermeadit
https://www.semrush.com/webinars/bad-seo-habits-meetup/

2. So many Bad Habits
What kind of bad habits are there?
● Mistakes that anyone can make
● Spammy practices or cheap services
● Technical Issues and errors
● Lack of strategy and planning
These come about by:
1. Being unaware of the issues
2. Trying to beat Google at its own game

3. Mistakes that anyone can make

4. Ticking the noindex box
It’s the oldest trick in the WordPress SEO book.
You tick the box and forget to untick later, and your site won't index.
#1

5. Not installing an SEO plugin
You don't actually need an SEO plugin to do SEO on WordPress, but…
If you want to do it the hard way you can dig into the files and code.
Install a plugin:
● Yoast SEO
Or
● All in one SEO Pack
#2

6. Not connecting with Google & Bing
There are many benefits of connecting you site with Google and Bing.
It allows you to take control and visibility into the crawlers and indexing,
And a whole lot more, Install:
● Google Search Console
● Google Analytics
● Google Tag Manager
● Bing Webmaster tools
#3

7. Not submitting sitemap.xml
Sitemap lists URLs for crawling
Gives data about each URL to indicate priority and frequency etc.
Also indicates any new URLs on your site
Create and submit an xml sitemap through Yoast or All-in-one plugin
Keep an eye out for sitemap errors
#4

8. Blocking .js and .css file in robots.txt
It used to be the norm to block extra resources in your robots.txt
Now it’s best to let Google figure out what to do with Javascript and Style sheets
If blocked Google may not see all of your site properly or crawl it
#5

9. Poor internal linking strategy
Lack of any internal links to important resources on your site
Too many internal links to pages just to get rankings
Links with inappropriate or misleading anchor text
Links that are badly structured, broken or in redirect loops
#6

10. Ignoring Google Webmaster Guidelines
You may not know about Google Webmaster Guidelines
● https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35769?hl=en
You may not think they are that important, or you can beat Google
Consider two factors:
● What’s your appetite for risk?
● How much do you stand to lose if you site tanks?
#7

11. Spammy practices or poor services

12. Homepage title keyword stuffing
You think your homepage title should have your important keywords in it
Yeah sure, keywords are important in homepage title!
But not by repeating a set or variation of keywords
● Don’t: <title>Blue Widgets | Red Widgets Online | Best Widgets</title>
● Do:<title>Widget Brand - Best Red and Blue Widgets Online</title>
Google may rewrite your Homepage title if you get this wrong
Anyways, it just looks spammy and your CTR could tank
#8

13. Meta Description Keyword Stuffing
Some people think Meta Description is a place to put all their important keywords
Rank higher because of some trick or something?
This just looks really spammy
● CTR will tank
Better to use the Meta Description as you little marketing grab
So folks can get an idea of what your site is about before clicking on the result
Better CTR, bounce rate, higher time on site, more page views etc. etc. Hopefully
#9

14. Lazy naming of images
You upload the image to WordPress and use it without ALT or Naming it properly
Your Blue Widget product photo comes off the camera as D-1028374.JPG
The name means nothing and no ALT text so what is the picture about?
Best to descriptively name it blue-widget-posing.jpg
Address ALT text like alt=”Blue Widget Posing”
This is also good HTML coding and accessibility. www.W3C.org
Don’t stuff keywords into image names or alt text: all-images-are-blue-widgets.jpg
#10

15. Errors in HTML code Theme or Plugin
Your Theme might be poorly coded, and have HTML errors
Your plugin might have errors in it
Your blog posts might have HTML errors inadvertently
These can disrupt or distort search engine crawlers such as Google Bot
Check your site with the W3C Validator
Validator.w3.org
#11

16. Using spammy link tactics
Innocently publishing pingback/trackbacks linking to a spammy site
Participating in webrings or reciprocal links schemes, or submitting directory links
Buying cheap advertised links. But the ad said 5,000 PR 9, DA 60+ for $5 ??
Cheap easy links, even for satellites, may work for a time. What’s the risk?
Better to embark with Quality Content Marketing and Targeted Outreach
Why people link:
1. Interesting Engaging Content 2. Great info and Resources 3. Visitor Relationship
#12

17. Technical Issues and errors

18. Persisting with slow website speed
You know your site is a bit slow, but loathe to move it or address server issues.
Google site speed tool: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/
Caching plugins and server caching can help but...
Consider moving to some quality hosting if you want real improvements
Chris Burgess has excellent Site Speed Tips,click to view on Slideshare
#13

19. Ignoring permalink structure
One of the first things to do
Adjust your permalink structure
You need friendly readable urls. How to (Yoat) change permalink structure
#14

20. Not addressing taxonomies
So you create a blog post called My Next Blue Widget
You put it in the Blue Widget category and the Tag it with Blue Widget
Categories and tags create URLs, which can display same content different ways
Also Plugins or Themes may create extra taxonomies
Google crawl and index these and can cause duplicate or cannibalizing effect
For small sites, you can noindex taxonomies.
For large site, you may want to optimize taxonomies effectively
#15

21. Putting your blog on a subdomain
By placing your blog on a subdomain like blog.widgetbrand.com
You are weakening, you need to now build authority and trust and PR :o
May be ok, for very large brands, or those who have strategies and budgets
Best to put your blog on widgetbrand.com/blog
Similar issues with satellite sites to help you in sub niches bestwidgetbrand.com
The searcher intent is the same so best to build your brand on preferred domain
#16

22. Lack of strategy and planning

23. Creating page for every keyword
You may think that each time you find a keyword you want to rank for
You need to create some content for that keyword
Hummingbird and RankBrain have changed all that
Now it is about Searcher Intent, think topics rather than keyword variants
So: “Blue Widget Length” and “Blue Widget Size” same search intent ??
So think and structure your site like a librarian to avoid cannibalizing content.
Click here for some tips by Dawn Anderson to avoid Content Cannibalization
#17

24. Not doing proper keyword research
Keyword research is very important, you may have heard this...
Why?
Because without it you cannot know what people are searching for to find you
Proper research including CPC, Competition, Difficulty, Synonyms, Intent
Google keyword planner old staple, has changed now for paid advertisers
SEMrush has terrific tools including Keyword Magic Tool
Many other tools including seobook keyword tools and Moz Keyword Explorer
#18

25. Poor Content Marketing Strategy
Content Marketing is the new Link Building
Primary goal for Content Marketing is to build online reputation and visibility
Links are important, Google sees links as a form of endorsement
Natural links that have been earned
The unhelpful links are Purchased or manufactured Links
Many types of content to provide interesting and engaging, useful to your audience
Give compelling reasons for people to link to your site
#19

26. Poor Content Promotion Strategy
So you create the articles and write all this great content, then what?
But you need to promote it or peeps don’t know it's there
Content Promotion Strategies Include:
● Email Lists
● Content Syndication
● Social Media
● Viral Content
● Targeted PPC
● Targeted Outreach…
#20

27. What bad habits do you have?