Avoiding SEO mistakes is just as important as using proper SEO practices.

Knowing and understanding the best SEO practices can make a huge impact on the success of your website, just as knowing and understanding what to avoid can keep you from losing hard earned ground that you've gained. The following list are examples of some of the biggest SEO mistakes that are made by seasoned professionals as well as novice website designers.
 

1) Not Using The Title and Meta Tags Properly If At All

The title of a page is second only to the domain name for keyword targeting. It is by far the biggest factor in ranking for the phrases that you'll target within them. If you have a title that doesn't target your keyword phrases well, then you may be dooming the page to being shelved somewhere on page 120.
 
Many SEO professionals will argue that meta tags are meaningless because search engines build descriptions from page content. They feel that meta tags have lost favor, if not being ignored completely.  Though meta description and keyword tags are not the main factor that search engines consider, you shouldn't ignore them either. The meta description is a brief summary of your page's content. When used in combination with the title it creates your "ad" on the search results pages. If you choose not to include a title and description, the search engines will edit your listings based on actual page content. In all likelihood this will leave your listing(s) very bland and uninviting to the person searching for information or products.  You should use the title and the description meta tags in tandom to convey exactly what you want people to see when they view your websites listing in a search result.

The keyword meta tag is supposed to be a summary list of the most important keywords and keyword phrases on your page. Because the meta keyword tag was so heavily abused over the years, the search engines have devalued them.  This isn't to say they hold no weight at all. You should include just the top 5-10 keywords and keyword phrases that are strong to page content in descending order of importance.
 

2) Lack of On Page Content

Avoid publishing blank pages that say very little about your products, services, or information.

How many times have you landed on a website just to find a lack of content based on the search terms that landed you there?  People like to find what they are looking for the first time. If you have a good product, offer a great service, or supply quality information, then there should never be a lack of content inside your pages. I can make a case for "More IS More" when it comes to content.  The more information you can supply to an end user the better. Search engines gobble up information and then relate that information to search terms which translates into traffic.  If you publish a ton of information, chances are great that you'll get a ton of quality referrals to your website.

3) Flash Sites and Javascript Menus

Search engines can't read the content of Flash or Javascript so they won't be indexed. The biggest mistake is to assume that beauty makes up for a pages utility, as if the beauty of a flash site will somehow be swapped for the lack of searchable content. Flash intros should be a clickable choice and not the other way around.  Skip the intro links, they do not help whatsoever so avoid using flash except as an enhancement to your "text based" content.

Javascript menus can be used but only if you include a site map that will guide the search engines through the layers of your pages. Using cascading style sheets (CSS) can replace most Javascript functionality and should be your choice, when and if possible.


4)  Images Without Alternate Text

Every image on a website can be edited to include an alternate text tag. One of the simplest ways to make your Web site more accessible is to use an alt attribute in your image tags, and if you want to write valid XHTML, the alt attribute is required inside the img tag.

EXP:  <img src="/mydomain.com/images/myhouse.jpg" alt="this is a picture of my house">

Alternate text also serves to create readable content that text to speech readers can synthesis into sound for the visually impaired. It should also be used to add content and reinforce a pages keyword strength (without being spammy about it). Note: Search engines are starting to reward websites that are built to be friendly to the visually impaired.


5) Shotgun Back Linking

Also known as Link Spamming. The adage that "Less is More" couldn't be more precise when it comes to getting other sites to link to you.  Just as in the past when the keyword meta tags were so heavilly abused, so too have back links gone down that same road.  Back links are an important means of telling the search engines that you belong here and that your website serves pages that are strong for the terms you have targeted.  If you are a jewelry site then you should work to get many jewelry related sites to link back to you while keeping non related sites from linking to you.  Some unscrupulous website owners have actually submitted their competitions website to completely unrelated (and low PR) websites to try and get them thrown down the SERP ladder.

Avoiding the free for all (FFA) sites,  generic link and banner exchanges should protect your PR. You should be as strict as possible when trading links and also when posting in forums and newsgroups that allow do-follow links in signatures and posts. A good webring can also be an acceptable means of back-linking if you start the channel and are very strict on who you allow to join. Directories and article sites are excluded from this simply because when your link is placed in a directory it is categorized and therefore related. Hence the term "categorized directory" as opposed to a page with a million links on it (link farm).

A note here: Getting links from every site on the planet will not hurt your page rank. The reason you want links from like sites is because of the quality of traffic they'll send to you. If you don't care about the quality of traffic and just want as many links as possible then go crazy making trades, submitting to directories and article sites. IT WILL NOT HURT YOU


6) Incorrect Directory Submissions

To continue a bit more with regards to directory submissions: The search engines keep their eyes out for what they term "Un-Natural Results".  When starting a directory submission campaign you'll want to use several well thought out titles and descriptions and then rotate them in different combinations for each submission.  This gives a more "natural" appearance to the search engines when they see a growing index of links pointing to your pages.  Try to spread submissions over a period of time to build up your backlinks in an even manor. The flags are raised when a site has a few backlinks one week and a 1000 links the next. This can get your site placed in the sandbox (secondary index) or worse, labled a spam site and banned.


7) Not Taking Advantage of Keyword Based Paths

Looking beyond having a keyword rich url, it is possible to take a meaningless URL and create a very strong website by naming the directories and paths with keyword rich phrases.  This is not to be confused with branding a site.  This is a well documented and proven method of targeting searched keywords. By creating keyword rich paths within your website you can effectively rank for those terms.  Sub-domains (keyword.mywebsite.com) are also a primary way to use keyword rich paths.


8) Poor Navigational Layout

It's really quite simple, if a user can't get to your information then they'll find it somewhere else, right?  This is known as a bounce. It's not rocket science to understand the basic premise that a website should read like a book. When a person reads your book (website), chapter 1 comes before Chapter 2, and that comes before Chapter 3...etc When designing your links and paths make sure it's well organized and easy to understand. One of the most frustrating things for a visitor is to land on a site where he knows the information is and he can't find it.

BOUNCE!

I hope this helps you to make the proper descisions when designing your website.  Fine tuning a site comes with the territory and rarely does anyone get it right the first time. We all have to build, tweak and rebuild until we get it right. Even after it's right, it's never really finished. Hopefully these simple pointers will help you to get closer to "right" the first time out. 


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