The most common SEO mistakes (examples)

Typical SEO mistakes

Regional features

In order to understand the regional characteristics of SEO, I analyzed the results of audits of sites from different regions. For example, studies show that more than 70% of errors on websites in the .ru domain zone are related to meta tags, indexing errors, markup and headers. A similar situation is observed on sites with .ua domains. However, there are also differences: problems with indexing are typical for most Ukrainian sites, while on sites with .by domains the main problem is meta tags.

The most common SEO mistakes and how to fix them

Below the graphs you will find a list of common errors and recommendations for correcting them, as well as comments from SEO experts describing these parameters.

#1 METATE TAGS

Many characters have different widths, which affects how they appear on search engines. For example, for Google, Yandex, Bing and other search engines, the Title width may vary. Titles up to 45 characters long are considered unoptimized because you can always add additional keywords. Some SEOs deliberately make titles longer than 65 characters to covertly add keywords that robots pick up but users don't see.

Recommendations for beginner optimizers on how to design a Title:

• Indicate what can be obtained on the page as accurately and concisely as possible.
• Use the main keyword (the name of the product, service or topic of the article) or, if it is an article, indicate what the user will receive by visiting your page.
• Avoid adjectives and overstated wording such as “best”, “tastiest”. These words can attract attention, but are often ignored by search engines.
• Don't write headlines like "Home page - construction company." The title should be unique and meaningful.
• Don't copy titles from other sites, create unique and relevant titles for each page.
• Avoid excessive use of regular and special characters, as search engines may remove or replace them.
• Don't fill the title with a lot of keywords. One page - one key.
• Use keywords in the page content, not just in the meta tags.

Description - like Title - has an optimal length that varies depending on the search engine. In Google there are snippets up to 425 characters long, but in Yandex the length is usually much shorter. The description attribute is often replaced by search engines with its own text, and its “weight” in SEO optimization is reduced, but it can still affect CTR.

Recommendations for designing the Description attribute:

• The description should be informative and attractive to users.
• To attract attention, you can use icons and special symbols to stand out from other snippets.
• Use the main keyword of the page in the first sentence.
• Don't fill your description with unnecessary words or advertising phrases that don't rank well.
• Do not copy parts of the text into the description, as search engines may do this automatically.
• Do not copy description from other pages. Each description must be unique.
• Although the description attribute has less impact on SEO, it still helps improve CTR and attract attention.
• Stick to the optimal length. If the page contains little information, don't make the description too long.

#2

Links, markup and headers

Three main types of errors are common in research:

• The rel="nofollow" attribute is not used for external links;
• The rel="nofollow" attribute is used for internal links;
• Favicon is missing.

62.80% of sites do not use the rel="nofollow" attribute for external links, 35.23% use the rel="nofollow" attribute for internal links, and 1.60% of sites do not have a Favicon at all. There are also sometimes URLs with many GET parameters or URLs that are too long, making them difficult for search engines to process.

These errors can negatively impact SEO, as incorrect use of attributes or the absence of a favicon reduces the site's credibility with search engines.

If you have any questions or need to discuss specific SEO issues, you can contact our studio. We are ready to help you with any questions.

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