Thanks to the massive amount of traffic pushed through search engines every day, competitive and forward thinking webmasters are doing all they can to push their websites to the top of the ranks.
SEO (search engine optimization) has been a major part of internet marketing for the better part of a decade, but only recently has it truly come into its own as a true online industry.
SEOs (search engine optimizers) have started offering their professional services, both as planners and technical employees, and some webmasters are seeing great results.
But that raises a question: why can’t you just do it yourself?
The fact of the matter is that you can, quite easily, do your search engine optimization on your own.
However, the major problem is that few people optimize their web sites properly. Web site optimization isn’t rocket science, but it still requires a careful and precise touch.
Here are some mistakes that seem to happen quite frequently, and should form the ‘what not to do’ list for your next web site optimization project.
#1: Wasting time on nofollow link websites.
Blog comments are a great way to generate linkbacks for your web site optimization campaign, but they’re completely useless when posted on a nofollow blog (if you are only commenting for backlinks and not building relationships). Run your potential linkbank websites through a link checker before you post. That way you save yourself time, effort, and money. While nofollow links are indexed by some search engines, most ignore them and assign little link value to them.
#2: Spamming aimlessly.
Spam can get your numbers up quickly, but it’s a horribly short-term strategy. Focus on acquiring links that actually add value, not just one-off comment posts and forum signature links. When you link with value, the high authority websites will boost your rankings a lot more than a few spammy links could.
#3: Paying for needless SEO services.
SEO services are incredibly useful when done right. The problem is that most newbies simply don’t need them. The vast majority of SEO can be done on your own, provided you’ve got enough time and determination. If you’re short on cash but large on time, do your SEO yourself.
#4: Short-term Blackhat strategies.
Cheating the search engines is a sure-fire way to find your website banned from their indexes. While optimization and strategy is always a good idea, simply scamming your way to the top of the rankings isn’t a strategy that lasts long. When you focus on the long-term effects of your SEO work, you can craft a strategy that doesn’t fade once the search engines work out what you’re doing. Black hatters will make it to the top once in a while, but it’s short lived and temporary. Focus on permanent solutions instead.
#5: Poor page tags.
Good image, header, and meta tags are essential for great page optimization. Lots of people spend hours focusing on keywords, all the while ignoring the importance of great page tags. If you’re using WordPress, look around for an SEO plugin to install. (All in-One-SEO, SEO Friendly Images) Otherwise, get ready to tag your images, headers, and page information for maximum SEO effect.
Just a few ways on how NOT to optimize your site.
How would you NOT optimize your site or how would you optimize your site? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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I agree with some of your points but not with all of them. Commenting is not really a waste of time. It really depends on what you want to achieve. Of course commenting on nofollow blogs is not going to help you with your search engine ranking but it certainly does help in getting traffic. Further it helps you in getting people to notice your blog.
Anyway keep it up
.-= Julius Kuhn-Regnier´s last blog ..Link Building Through Forums =-.
Twitter: andrewrondeau
Julius
I may not have articulated very well. When it comes to SEO, commenting is useless when posted on a nofollow blog. For other reasons like traffic, relationship building, it’s certainly worth doing.
Thanks for dropping by and hope to see you again…soon!
Andrew
I agree with most of your points however I believe that every single comment is valuable for the author to improve his/her site content. Btw, searching for dofollow blogs is a really a nice method to improve your PR!
.-= BloggerDaily´s last blog ..5 Tips for Writing Hot Article =-.
Twitter: andrewrondeau
As I said to Julius, I may not have articulated very well.
The blog post is about SEO and commenting IS useless when posted on a nofollow blog.
Thanks for dropping by and hope to see you again…soon!
Andrew
I agree some of the point that you mentioned, Yes when you comment on nofollow blog you may not get backlink, but if you comment on blog like problogger.net, copyblogger you can get some amount of traffic from those blog.
Well since some days my blog google traffic is going decrease, I can not find out the reason.
.-= chandan@work at home´s last blog ..Get dofollow backlink by commenting onPR3 blog [Digg] =-.
I don’t care to comment at nofollow website as long as the topic attract me. The other round, I don’t like to comment at dofollow site which topic is totally out from my interest.
.-= Jayce´s last blog ..Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2009 Photo & Video =-.
I do not like it when people comment on my blog for merely backlinks. You can normally tell when someone does that. Usually, the post says something like “Great Information!” with the name as an ad or name of their website. No useful commenting at all.
You are right. Build SEO the right way and for long term effects and build relationships, not merely backlinks.
.-= Gerlaine´s last blog ..Manifest by Moonlight =-.
Twitter: andrewrondeau
Gerlaine,
I’ve started deleting comments that just say “nice info” or things like that. Might even blog about it!
Andrew
LOL don’tcha wish some would read a comment or two above them before leaving there own.
Anyhoo, do follow no follow, blah blah blah, fact is, if you’re only commenting for SEO reasons then you don’t know what you’re doing anyway and need a lot more help then SEO.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..UPDATE! 4 Plugin Package – 75% Off! PLUS Something Extra From Me!
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Dennis,
In total agreement!
Andrew
[...] Web Site Optimization – How NOT To Do It – WeBuildYourBlog SEO (search engine optimization) has been a major part of internet [...]
Yeah — agree that commenting in nofollow blog is useless regarding SEO but great to build relationship, and of course, to get legit traffic.
.-= Dana @ Online Knowledge´s last blog ..Five Software that Must be Installed for New Laptop =-.
[...] Web Site Optimization – How NOT To Do It – WeBuildYourBlog SEO (search engine optimization) has been the vital partial of internet [...]
[...] Web Site Optimization – How NOT To Do It – WeBuildYourBlog SEO (search engine optimization) has been a major part of internet [...]
yes its true Black Hat SEO boosts traffic in one minute I made a experiment with this but later in fort night it trough us into the black hole of search engine from where we never come up again. Nice Article
.-= Gurpreet Singh´s last blog ..Big Mazza Helps to Make Money With their Social Network =-.
Absolutely Great Post. It’s hard to know which blogs are no-follow and which ones are not!!
regards
Amarjit
Well, I spend some time on both nofollow and do follow blogs, but I don’t do it only for the sake of links, I do it because I want people to know about me, while on the other side I do some basic SEO, on-page is already done, for now I am building backlinks regularly with various methods.
No follow blogs and sites shouldn’t be completely ignored in my opinion.
.-= Davor Gasparevic´s last blog ..Niche/money making ebook #5 – The Law Of Attraction! =-.
Some really good points you listed. I comment on other blogs to bring in traffic and to build a community around my blog. I have never paid for any SEO services and probably will never. I have a few friends who help me out or give tips to better my SEO.
.-= George Serradinho´s last blog ..Serious Monday Roundup #21 =-.
Twitter: andrewrondeau
George
Building that community is crucial and having friends to help is a real bonus!
Andrew
i agree that SEO can be done on urown. It just moneymaking machine from noobs. And yes. i thnk long-term goals will always bank while short-terms is just time wasting
Yes, it is possible to optimize your site by yourself, but it take lot of time when you are doing it by yourself. You will need to spend lots of time on it, unless you employ some paid link into it. Sometime you dont get the result of SEO quickly.