Introduction
The world of SEO can be a confusing one. There’s so much conflicting advice out there, and it can be hard to tell what is true and what isn’t. The result is that many New Zealand small businesses often engage in practices that actually hurt their SEO efforts rather than help them. This post will take you through ten of the most common missteps made by NZ SMEs when it comes to SEO and explain how you can avoid them for better results in your own business!
Not knowing your business goals.
Before you get started on any SEO strategy, it’s important to know what your business goals are. Not knowing this will make it difficult for you to measure whether or not your SEO efforts are successful.
There are many ways for small businesses to find out what their business goals are:
Ask yourself some questions about where you want your company in five years’ time and write down the answers. For example: “I want my company to be recognized as an industry leader,” or “I want my brand name known by potential clients worldwide.” Then ask yourself questions like “How can I achieve this?” or “What do I need from my website?” If there is no clear answer yet (which may happen), keep asking yourself over time until one comes through clearly enough so that it feels right for everyone involved in making decisions about how best use their time at work each day; otherwise ask someone who knows them well enough such as another employee or friend/family member who knows them well enough; otherwise go back into history when they first started working towards achieving their current goal(s) so see if there was anything else besides just ‘business success’ which motivated them along those lines then; finally try looking back through past experiences such as childhood vacations/holidays etcetera where they might have learnt something useful now applied towards achieving these goals today.”
Not understanding the basics of SEO.
A common mistake made by small business owners is not understanding the basics of SEO. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it’s all about making sure that your website is easy to find. In other words, if someone searches for something related to your business, they should be able to find you in the first page or two of results (or at least on their way there).
The good news is that you don’t have to be an expert in order to get some decent results from your efforts–you just need basic knowledge about how Google works and what kinds of things will help make them rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). You also need patience: SEO isn’t something you do once or twice; rather it’s an ongoing process that requires continual effort over time if you want see any real improvement in rankings or traffic levels from one month/year/decade into another!
SEO isn’t just about keywords though–it’s also about creating content people want read and share with others via social media platforms like Facebook & Twitter because these channels have become increasingly important when determining which websites appear at top positions during searches performed using these types
Not knowing what keywords to focus on.
Keywords are the words or phrases that people type into search engines when they are looking for information on a particular topic. Keyword research is the process of finding out which keywords are relevant to your business and how much competition there is for those keywords.
If you aren’t sure what keywords to focus on, consider how customers will find your website and what they might be searching for when they do so. For example, if you’re a plumber who specializes in fixing leaking toilets, it makes sense that someone looking for “leaking toilet” would be more likely than other people looking at similar sites (like yours) because they have an immediate problem at hand that needs solving right away!
Not monitoring your analytics and SEO progress regularly.
Monitoring your analytics and SEO progress regularly is a great way to determine if you’re making progress toward your goals. You need to know what those goals are before you can monitor them, though! Once you’ve set up Google Analytics or another tool (like Crazy Egg), it’s easy enough to check in on how many people are visiting your website and where they’re coming from.
If you don’t see an increase in traffic after implementing new SEO tactics or other changes, there could be any number of reasons why: maybe the content isn’t attracting enough interest; maybe people aren’t linking back to it; maybe people aren’t sharing it on social media…the list goes on!
Focusing on quantity over quality in your content.
You can’t just throw together random words and hope it will rank. You need to create high-quality content that solves a real problem for your customers.
Quality over quantity: This is one of the most common mistakes made by small businesses when it comes to SEO, but it’s also one of the easiest to fix! If you’re not creating enough content or aren’t writing in-depth posts about what makes your business unique and different from others in your industry, then this is probably why you’re not seeing results yet.
Focus on quality over quantity: Don’t just focus on creating more articles–think about what they could say! Are they providing value? Do they solve customer problems? Will people share them on social media or bookmark them so they can come back later? If so, then great job! Keep up the good work and keep improving upon what works well already (and don’t forget about all those other steps outlined earlier).
Using generic titles for pages, posts and blog posts.
One of the most common SEO mistakes made by small businesses is using generic titles for pages, posts and blog posts.
Use keywords in your titles: When you’re creating a new page, post or blog post on your website make sure it has a keyword-rich title that includes at least one of your target keywords in the first 50 words of text. This helps Google understand what the page is about so they can rank it better in search results.
Keep titles short and sweet: Keep them under 60 characters (about 2 lines) long so they fit nicely into search engine result pages (SERPs). If possible use one word titles instead as this makes it easier for people to remember where they’ve seen something before or find again later on social media sites like Facebook if someone else mentions that same subject area without mentioning any specific URL references – which could mean clicking through multiple pages before finding what was being referenced previously!
Ignoring social media as part of your SEO strategy.
Social media is an important part of SEO. In fact, it’s a vital component for local and mobile search engine optimization (SEO). Social media can also help you build your brand and create content that attracts new customers or builds loyalty among existing ones.
The best way to approach social media from an SEO perspective is by looking at each platform as an opportunity for link building: Get people talking about you on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram–and then make sure those conversations are indexed by Google so they show up in search results along with other sites linking back to yours.
Not paying attention to mobile friendliness and speed of your website for better ranking on Google.
Google has a mobile-first index and they are promoting websites that are mobile friendly.
If your website is not mobile friendly, it can have a negative impact on your rankings.
A user’s experience is more important than ever in this day and age when users have so many other options at their fingertips. A poorly designed website will turn away potential customers and cause them to go elsewhere.
Ignoring local search engine optimization (SEO) as well as local business listings/citations related to local listings services like Yelp, Helium, YP and more).
One of the biggest mistakes made by small businesses is ignoring local search engine optimization (SEO). While it’s true that national SEO can be done by any business, regardless of where it’s located and what products or services it offers, local SEO requires a different strategy.
Local search engine optimization has become increasingly important as more people use their smartphones to search for nearby businesses in their area. It’s also important if you want to rank well on Google Maps (which has more than 2 billion monthly users) and other mobile apps like Yelp or Foursquare.
There are several types of online listings services out there such as Yelp and TripAdvisor but I’ll focus on two main ones: Local Listings Services (LLS) and Business Listings Services (BLS).
A small investment in understanding the basics of SEO can reap big rewards
SEO is the most important part of your website. It’s a long-term strategy that requires an investment of time and money, but the rewards can be significant.
A good SEO strategy will help you build traffic to your site over time by increasing its visibility in search engines like Google. This means more people will visit, which increases brand awareness and leads to more sales or enquiries for your business.
SEO isn’t something you can do once and expect immediate results; it’s something you need to keep working on over time if you want to see real growth in organic search rankings (i.e., those listed below paid ads).
Conclusion
We hope that this article has helped you understand the basics of SEO and how to avoid common mistakes. If you’re still unsure about what to do, don’t worry! We recommend starting with our free 30-minute consultation where we can go through your website together and give you some recommendations on how best to improve its SEO.
