11 fatal SEO errors in 2023

Have you ever found yourself on a website without responsive web design? The answer is most likely yes - but I'm also sure that you quickly left the website.

If there's one thing we should all have learned over the years, it's that Google prioritizes user experience. Why would the search engine reward a website with top rankings when the majority of users will have a bad experience? The answer is, they won't. So if your website is not responsive and works, functionally and visually, on mobile or tablet, then it should be on your to-do list in 2023.

In 2002, it might have been OK to have a website that wasn't responsive on mobile or tablet. Back then, Britney Spears, Pitbull and Nik and Jay were also some of the biggest names in music - what I'm trying to say is that some things (thankfully) change over the years.

A major SEO mistake in 2023 is still missing - or downright bad - title and meta descriptions. Your title tags give the reader, and not least Google, an indicator of the content on your landing page. In addition, it's your chance to capture users and get them to click through to your website - rather than your competitors'.

Good titles and meta descriptions:

• It is informative.
• Invites the reader to click further.
• Has the right amount of characters.
• Contains the right SEO keywords.

Would you like to know more? Then you can read more in our blog post and get to grips with on-page SEO.

Have you ever heard the term "SEO text"? Unfortunately, this is what many people call a text that aims to strengthen a website's SEO. However, Google's "helpful content update" made it clear that useless content will not get your website high up in the search results.

First mistake you can make is to start referring to blog posts, guides or texts for sales pages as SEO texts, it should not be part of your vocabulary at all. All texts and content on your website should be semantic, informative and well-written - and don't worry, Google will reward you for making SEO for humans rather than robots.

ChatGPT took Denmark and the rest of the world by storm back in November 2022, and today students, businesses and individuals use artificial intelligence on a daily basis. Whether or not AI texts will cause us SEO specialists problems in the future is certainly a divisive issue, and something we're all watching closely. Read more about the impact of CHATGPT on SEO.

Some SEO specialists have taken Nephew's song "again and again and" a bit too seriously when optimizing the texts on a website. SEO is not about cramming a certain keyword into a page thousands of times, and this can actually end up hurting your SEO more than it helps. This phenomenon is not new to SEO, but it's still something that unfortunately happens in 2023.

If you follow my third piece of advice regarding "useless SEO texts", you're sure not to end up doing keyword stuffing.

Keyword volume does not mean that a keyword is worth targeting. Your keyword analysis may show on paper that a given keyword has high traffic potential. But if it doesn't match users' search intent, the likelihood of high Google rankings for that search is vanishingly small.

Example:

You have a blog about sneakers and fashion, and your keyword analysis shows that there are 33,000 monthly searches for 'Nike shoes' on Google Denmark. "Great!", you think and throw yourself headlong into writing a skyscraper of a blog post about Nike shoes, their history etc. in the hope of getting high on Google on the search.

But have you studied what people search for when they google 'Nike shoes'? What their search intent is?

Are they interested in reading about Nike shoes - or buying Nike shoes? A quick Google search clearly points to the latter.

Read more about how to match search intent and content here.

Not everyone prioritizes internal link building, which is a big mistake in itself. Internal link building creates an internal link structure that makes it easier for visitors and Google's robots to navigate your website. In addition, you create link value for the landing pages you link to.

However, many people still do not use internal link building correctly. For example, it is pointless to create an internal link to our subpage on Google Ads in this blog post. Instead, it would be relevant for me to create an internal link to our big guide to SEO, which is updated regularly.

It's also a mistake to think that anchor texts don't matter. Even if you try to rank for "carpenter" on your front page, this should not be your anchor text every time. "Professional carpenter", "carpenter", "carpentry company", "get help from a carpenter" are examples of possible anchor texts that you can use to create a natural internal link structure.

Does your landing page contain countless internal links where "click here", "read more" or "get more information" is your anchor text? Then you're making one of the biggest mistakes in internal link building in 2023.

Many people forget the external part of SEO - well, that's not entirely true, they always remember external link building. The love for the other areas of off-page SEO is as non-existent as the plot of every movie produced by Adam Sandler.

Google My Business, online reviews and traffic from social media are categorized as off-page SEO. Are you one of the doubters? Then I have written a post where you can learn more about the importance of off-page SEO.

Imagine you are looking for a carpenter to remodel your home. You click on two different websites and have to decide which one to choose.

The first website has many different services, and it's clear that they are specialists and can easily carry out your upcoming remodel to perfection. However, they use stock images on the website, there is a short about us page, and there is no reference page.

On the other website, it's also clear to see that they can easily handle your remodeling. But on this site, you can see their past projects on their reference page, they use personal photos and videos, and they have an about us page that's booming with smiling employees.

If the price of remodeling is the same, which company would you be most inclined to choose? I would definitely have no doubts.

"Yes yes, that sounds very good, but do you have data to support this?"

If you have an about us page and a reference page, you should examine your website's behavioral flow and which pages get the most page views in Google Analytics. The about us page will most likely be in the top 3 most visited pages.

Most people have become aware of the seriousness of spammy backlinks after Google'sDecember 2022 link spam update. Unfortunately, not everyone understands how important it is to be careful with your external link building.

PBN backlinks are a violation of Google's Search Essentials, as these types of links are not natural and only serve the purpose of getting a website higher in the Google rankings.

So if your website is spammed with external links from low authority websites, it can only be too slow to get them removed. Google will most likely detect it sooner or later. Read more about toxic backlinks.

Have you ever analyzed the URL structure of a website? If you deal with SEO on a daily basis, I hope the answer is yes.

An inappropriate URL structure can have a negative effect on your SEO and this is simply because Google has difficulty understanding your URLs.

Typical URL errors:

• Your URLs contain non-ASCII characters.
• Your URLs contain underscores (_).
• Your URLs contain words that are "merged" (missing hyphen).
• Your URLs are far too long.

Are your URLs doing more harm than good? Then you have a project in 2023. A little tip: use Screaming Frog to identify pitfalls in your URLs.

If you're a SEO specialist striving to get the best results on Google, there's one SEO mistake that's as disastrous as wearing leather pants in 30 degree heat.

Of course, I'm talking about keeping up to date with Google's many algorithm updates. Since January 2020, Google has rolled out many major algorithm updates, and some have had a bigger impact than others.

There are many ways to stay up to date, including subscribing to Marie Haynes' newsletters, following interesting SEO specialists on LinkedIn and checking the Google news page weekly.

Google is changing all the time, and it's a big problem if you don't keep up to date in 2023.

Do you feel that you don't have the time, energy or skills to manage SEO yourself? Then you can get help from an experienced digital marketing agency.

At Webamp , my skilled colleagues and I are ready to help your company become visible on your core services. Contact us today!