Irritating SEO Practices

Search engine optimisation will help you get your website in the top search rankings if it is done correctly; however it does not always mean you have the best website on the web.  Have you wondered why you are on the top search results, but your sales are not improving or getting worse?  There is usually a simple explanation to this problem.  It is called irritation SEO practices, where you have forgotten about the consumer and gone straight for the search engine results.

Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines on the web have been working hard in the last few years to get rid of these irritating issues.  They have redesigned how the search engine creates the top rankings.  For instance link buying, duplicate content, keyword stuffing and other practices that were gems are now taboo.  In fact using these practices of old can land you into the bottomless pit of “never going to be indexed” sites.

The search engines have realised that consumers do not like strictly SEO based websites.  Consumers are trying to find sites that give plenty of information or sell something they need.  This is why the search engines are targeting a different method of SEO.

Irritations that should not be used include the following:

1. Do not use Java Script unless you have to.  It takes too much time to download and often does not work correctly for the majority of online users.
2. Images need text links built in first, because consumers don’t like the time it takes to wait for an image. 
3. Use less images.
4. If you use a video do not let it automatically start; give the consumer a choice.
5. When using newsletters, don’t make the subscription process mandatory.  A consumer will not like it and spiders can’t get through the site.  A newsletter needs to be a choice with an opt out option in every email sent.
6. Use clear font.  Nothing is worse than a page with a busy background and indiscernible font.  If a consumer can’t read the page they will not stay.  If a consumer does not stay this lowers your rankings.
7. Search engines look for pages that perform well, have an older age, and that please the consumer.
8. Duplicate content, repeated keywords, grammar errors, and spelling errors are all bad.  Even search engines do not like it.
9. If you have sales in two different countries have two distinct websites.  Sometimes spelling can look erroneous because of the different language.  In other words UK and US English have different methods of spelling.  A clear cut site for each language is needed.

SEO can be used wisely, but cutting out the errors or what look like errors that are not, is wise.  Make sure you don’t forget your customer when you create a site.  You need to target the customer and work in the SEO options around them.  You are guaranteed to make more sales and still retain the rankings you desire.