As can be seen below, CTR drastically drops when moving down from first to tenth place in the organic Google search results.
So, anything that lessens your likelihood of getting that top spot can mean drastic cuts in engagement and gutted revenue.
The downside is that SEO mistakes are pretty common, and you might not even realize that your site’s suffering at their mercy.
The good news, however, is that most SEO issues are completely avoidable and fixable.
Here are common SEO issues and how to fix the issues that could be holding your web pages back from the No. 1 spot on Google.
Common SEO Issues
Here are some of the more common SEO issues—those that affect visibility and performance adversely:
Insufficient Keyword Research:
Missing the exact target keywords or misconceptions about user intent normally translate to unproductive SEO strategies.
Low-Quality Content:
Thin or low-quality content that doesn’t add value to the user has adverse implications for ranking positions. The existence of several pages with identical/duplicate content confuses search engines.
Broken Links:
Internal and external broken links tend to remove the user experience and hurt SEO.
Mobile Optimization:
Websites not optimized for mobile may lose ranking with mobile-first indexing.
Page Speed:
Pages that load slowly tend to have high bounce rates and rank lower.
Missing Metadata:
Inefficient application of title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags hinders the appropriate indexing of pages by search engines.
Bad URL Structure:
Unclean or non-descriptive URLs reduce the effectiveness of the crawl and impact usability.
Not Giving Attention to Technical SEO:
Issues in robots.txt, XML sitemaps, or canonical tags will hinder search engines from crawling and indexing pages appropriately.
No HTTPS:
Having no secure connection is bound to negatively affect rankings since HTTPS indeed is one of Google’s ranking factors.
Over-Optimization
Too much repetition of keywords, overstuffed or overly aggressive link building will attract penalties.
Insufficient Local SEO:
Not optimizing against local search or not having a Google My Business profile will drastically bring down the website’s visibility in results related to local searches.
Not Heeding User Experience:
Navigation problems, too many pop-ups, or lousy layout can skyrocket the bounce rate and depress engagement signals.
Not Monitoring Analytics:
With no tracking and analysis of a website’s performance, it is not possible to identify problems and areas of improvement.
Schema Markup Not Looked After:
Structured data is not used, which means missing out on an opportunity for rich snippets in search results.
Social Media Integration:
No integration with social media. This could hinder the reach and engagement of the target audience.
How to Fix Common SEO Issues?
Fixing common SEO issues may play an important role in enhancing the visibility and ranking of your website on search engines. The steps mentioned below will fix common SEO problems:
Identify Issues:
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SEO Tools: Tools like Google Search Console, SEMrush, AlphaRank, Ahrefs, Moz, etc. could be extremely useful in recognizing broken links, duplicate content, etc.
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Conduct Audit: Audit your website from time to time in order to identify areas that need improvement.
Repair Broken Links:
- Identify: Tools can help in finding the internal and external links which are broken.
- Redirect or Remove: Redirect URLs of broken links to relevant pages, otherwise remove if of no use.
Optimize Page Titles and Meta Descriptions:
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Unique Titles: Each page should be equipped with a unique title, and these titles must contain keywords.
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Compelling Descriptions: Write compelling meta descriptions that encourage click-throughs.
Improve Page Load Speed:
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Optimize Images: Compress images without the loss of quality.
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Minimize CSS and JavaScript: Reduce file sizes through the use of minimizing and combining files.
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Utilize Caching: Implement browser caching for faster load times.
Ensure Mobile-Friendliness:
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Responsive Design: Ensure responsiveness on all devices.
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Test Mobile Usability: Test usability with the inclusion of Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test, among other tools.
Fix Content Duplication:
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Canonical Tags: Add canonical tags so search engines know the preferred version of your page.
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Rewrite Content: Combine or rewrite the content on pages that have very similar topics to avoid content duplication.
Structured Data Implementation:
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Schema Markup: Help the Search Engines read your Content using schema markup.
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Rich Snippets: Make your listings stand out by adding structured data that generates rich snippets.
Improve URL Structure:
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InInformative and Clean URLs: Simple, descriptive URLs that have keywords.
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Avoid Special Characters: Keep URLs clean and user-friendly.
Enhance Internal Linking:
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Link Relevant Content: Cross-link relevant content within your site.
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Use Descriptive Anchor Text: The anchor text itself should describe the link to a great extent.
Check and Improve Backlink Profile:
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Check Backlinks: Check the backlinks to your site regularly for quality.
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Disavow Toxic Links: In case harmful links are found, mitigate with Google’s Disavow Tool.
Update Content Regularly:
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Renew the Content: Go through the content that was uploaded earlier and update it to make it relevant.
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New Content: Plan new content at regular intervals, to ensure better engagement.
Observe User Behavior:
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Google Analytics: Monitor the user behaviour to track the bounce rates of any page or the engage rate that is too low.
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Improve: Based on feedback and user behaviour, improve the content and the UX.
Optimize for Local SEO if needed:
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Google My Business: Get listed on Google My Business and optimize your listing.
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Citation: NAP, or Name, Address, Phone Number, should be consistent across all platforms.
Keep Yourself Up-to-date about the Latest SEO Best Practices:
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Keep an Eye on Industry Trends: Keep updated; SEO keeps changing and updating itself by reading SEO blogs, attending webinars, joining forums.
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Test and experiment: Run A/B testing on your SEO strategies to find out what works best for your audience.
By addressing these common SEO issues, you can improve your website’s visibility and user experience manifold, thereby driving more organic traffic.
More importantly, AI tools can help you solve and avoid most common SEO issues more effectively and quickly. For instance, they can add ALT tags with a single click, modify titles, meta descriptions, and more. AlphaRank, as an AI-driven SEO tool, is particularly suitable for SEO beginners and those who want to save a significant amount of time and effort in their daily SEO tasks. Click to get a free trial and quickly boost your website’s ranking and traffic!