5 common SEO mistakes small businesses make

Making mistakes in business is part of the learning process. However, it can be costly when it comes to SEO. For small businesses with limited time and resources, there’s even less room for error.

The challenge with SEO lies in the possibility of focusing on the wrong areas or using ineffective methods, which can often go unnoticed for months. This can lead to wasted time and money on strategies that fail to deliver results. By the time these problems come to light, you may have already lost valuable traffic, potential leads, and sales opportunities.

In this article, we’ll look at the most common SEO mistakes small businesses make, and how you can fix them before they become a problem.

Whether you're just getting started or fine-tuning your strategy, these tips will help ensure your work is effective and not wasted.

Many webmasters and business owners try to implement SEO without proper direction or a well-defined plan to reach their marketing goals. 
Disjointed efforts, miscommunication, lack of direction, keyword focus, random content creation, inconsistent posting, and failure to prioritise important tasks can significantly impact SEO success.

In some cases, business owners have even harmed their established websites without proper planning or execution, causing a severe drop in rankings.

Search traffic is a slow burn and it can take months to see positive results, even with a solid strategy set in place. To stay on track create short and long-term goals, set milestones, and keep to routines to stay on course. 

Here’s how to come up with a successful SEO strategy:

• Conduct a full SEO audit: A professional SEO audit provides a clear picture of what needs to be fixed on your website. It helps you prioritise high-impact tasks and set a clear course for the next 3–6 months.
• Define target keywords: Build a list of keywords aligned with your business objectives, such as commercial, transactional, or informational terms. These keywords should guide your content strategy and be integrated into landing pages, blog posts, and your Google Business Profile.
• Analyse your competition: Look at your competitors’ targeted keywords, backlink profiles, site speed, and content strategies. Rather than trying to do something completely different, aim to do it better than your competitors.
• Prioritise high-impact tasks: Running a business alongside managing SEO can be overwhelming. Focus on tasks that will drive the biggest results, like establishing service pages rather than unnecessary tasks that won’t push the needle. 
• Plan content in advance: Develop a list of 30 topic ideas and add them to a content marketing plan. Depending on your business, consistent content can significantly boost your SEO. Ensure your topics align with your target keywords, are relevant to your niche, and follow a consistent posting schedule (such as one blog post per week).

Keyword stuffing and low-quality content

A common mistake we often see businesses making is unknowingly or knowingly producing low-quality content stuffed with the keywords they want to rank for. 

While this approach may have worked years ago, search engine crawlers, like Google Bot, have become far more sophisticated and have been cracking down on this practice for years. So, forcing keywords unnaturally into your content is more likely to hurt your rankings.

A frequent issue with keyword stuffing is using the exact keyword repeatedly without variation. For example, I recently found the keyword "SEO Optimisation New Zealand" on Semrush. 

Instead of repeatedly filling our service page with that exact phrase, I integrated it naturally into the content, ensuring it’s easy for users to read and understand while still including the search term.

Many site owners overlook what needs to be included to rank for their target keywords, often writing too little due to uncertainty about what to say. 

However, thin content doesn’t provide enough context, which can prevent it from ranking. Your content should answer the questions users have when searching for those keywords. 

Tips to ensure your web pages are of good quality: 

• Implement LSI Keywords: Use Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords to provide context and relevance to your content to make your content more natural.
• Write More than 200 Words: Aim for in-depth content, ideally over 500 words to cover topics in detail.
• Add FAQs: Include frequently asked questions that address common queries your audience may have.
• Include Product Descriptions: Provide clear, concise, and informative descriptions for products, helping users understand their benefits and features.
• List Business Locations: Clearly state where your business operates, as this can enhance local SEO and help people find you easily.
• Detail Services Offered: Highlight the services you provide, making it easy for users to know what you offer.
• Highlight Industry Experience: Share your qualifications and experience in the industry to build trust & establish EATT with potential customers.
• Provide Contact Details: Ensure that your contact information is easily accessible, allowing users to reach you with questions or inquiries.
• Ensure On-Page Optimisation: Properly structured title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags help search engines understand your content better.

Writing quality content that ranks in the top position ultimately depends on how well it performs compared to other content on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). The goal is to create something that meets search intent and is better than what the competition offers.

If you're struggling with content creation, my biggest tip is to hire a professional SEO copywriter or learn how to craft high-quality content using online resources.

Neglecting mobile optimisation and user experience

With 92.3% of internet users accessing the web via mobile devices, mobile optimisation is crucial when building a webpage or website.

However, this can often be neglected, especially when using page builders with a desktop preview, without considering how the site looks and functions on mobile. 

Common issues include large image sizes, text extending off the screen, or buttons too small to tap. These problems can lead to a poor user experience and result in losing a significant portion of traffic and potential customers.

Ensuring your site is mobile-friendly and performs well across devices is essential, as Google considers website performance a ranking factor.

How to ensure mobile optimisation and user experience is met:

• Preview your design across multiple devices: Ensure that elements are aligned, readable, and functional on mobile as well as desktop.
• Compress large images: Reduce image sizes to improve load times and declutter mobile screens for a smoother experience.
• Improve page speed: Optimise for fast load times on mobile to prevent users from bouncing due to slow performance.
• Implement responsive design: Ensure content and layout automatically adjust to fit smaller screens for a seamless experience.
• Minimise unnecessary scripts: Limit excessive scripts and widgets to avoid lag and slow load times on mobile devices.
• Ensure elements can be clicked easily: Make buttons and links large enough and well-spaced for easy navigation on touchscreens.

A mobile-friendly design helps reduce bounce rates, as users are more likely to stay engaged on a website that's easy to navigate on their devices. 

Improving these metrics encourages users to interact more with your content and inquire about your services.

Ignoring off-page and local SEO

Local businesses often overlook off-page SEO, which involves activities like building backlinks and promoting your site beyond your pages.

This oversight is usually due to limited resources or a lack of understanding of SEO, with many assuming that simply building a website will attract traffic on its own.

The same applies to setting up a Google Business Profile. While creating one is a great first step, promoting and optimising it is essential to generate traffic and leads more quickly.

This becomes even more crucial in competitive markets, where your competitors may be investing heavily in their SEO efforts to secure the top spots.

• Sign Up for Directories: Registering your business with local or national directories can provide easy backlinks. Many directories will link directly to your website.
• Leverage Social Media Platforms: Being active on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn can significantly improve your brand’s online visibility.
• Get Featured in Local Press or Blogs: Featuring in local media outlets or on community blogs not only boosts your credibility but also helps build quality backlinks.
• Encourage Reviews from Existing and Past Customers: Consistent reviews on your Google Business Profile (GBP) are an effective strategy to maintain a competitive edge in your target keywords. Encourage satisfied customers to leave positive feedback.
• Optimise Your GBP Description: Incorporate relevant keywords related to your business and location in your GBP description. This alignment with user searches can help improve your visibility in search results.

While SEO traffic can be passive, it takes time and effort to establish your presence in the market. Promoting your website is a crucial part of the process, especially in the early stages.

Overlooking data and analytics

Overlooking, misunderstanding, or failing to follow key data is like working in the dark.

It prevents you from identifying areas that need improvement, recognising what is achieving results (such as specific pages or keywords), and determining where to allocate resources. This often leads to decisions based on assumptions rather than data, which can result in mistakes such as loss of rankings, search traffic, and more.

For SEO, Google Search Console and Google Analytics are sufficient for most small businesses. These tools allow you to see metrics such as page clicks, demographics, age, session time, engagement time, and more. 

Google Search Console also provides vital information, including Core Web Vitals, indexed pages, CTR, ranking keywords, security issues, and backend errors that aren’t visible on the front end of your website.

The good news is that these tools are free to sign up for. However, if you’re looking to explore further and track keyword positions, backlinks, or monitor your website for other issues, I recommend investing in a paid tool such as Semrush.

When it comes to understanding the data, here are the SEO metrics I recommend following:

• Clicks: The number of visitors coming to your website from search engines.
• Keyword Rankings: Your position in search results for targeted keywords, indicating if further optimisation is needed.
• Average Session Duration: The average time a visitor spends on your page, which gauges content quality and page performance.
• Backlinks: The number of external websites linking to yours, helping assess the need for backlink acquisition.
• Page Load Speed: The time it takes for your website pages to load on mobile and desktop devices.
• Local Search Rankings: Your visibility in local search results and on Google Maps.
• Site Health: Monitoring technical SEO metrics, such as crawl errors and broken links.

Reading and understanding the right data helps you identify opportunity gaps and areas for improvement in your SEO strategy, giving you a competitive edge. Following this data can lead to positive rankings.

SEO strategy

SEO mistakes are inevitable, but with the right approach, they don't have to be costly.

By identifying and correcting these common mishaps early on, you can save your business time, money, and missed opportunities. SEO is a long-term strategy that requires careful planning, consistent effort, and a keen eye on what works and what doesn’t.

If you're unsure whether your current SEO strategy is working or want to uncover hidden opportunities to grow your business, we can give you a hand.