What SEO risks should you avoid in project planning?

1 Risk 1: Keyword cannibalization

Keyword cannibalization occurs when you target the same or similar keywords on multiple pages of your website, resulting in competition and confusion for both search engines and users. This can lead to lower rankings, less visibility, and reduced click-through rates. To avoid keyword cannibalization, you should conduct a thorough keyword research and mapping, and assign one primary keyword per page. You should also use tools like Google Search Console and Screaming Frog to identify and fix any instances of keyword cannibalization on your site.

2 Risk 2: Content duplication

Content duplication refers to having identical or very similar content on different pages of your website, or on other websites. This can harm your SEO performance by diluting your authority, relevance, and trustworthiness, and by triggering penalties from search engines. To avoid content duplication, you should create unique and valuable content for each page of your website, and use canonical tags, redirects, or noindex tags to deal with any unavoidable duplicates. You should also use tools like Copyscape and Siteliner to check and monitor your content for duplication.

3 Risk 3: Site speed issues

Site speed is a key factor for SEO, as it affects user experience, engagement, and conversions. A slow-loading website can frustrate and drive away your visitors, and also signal to search engines that your site is not optimized or reliable. To avoid site speed issues, you should optimize your images, videos, and code, and use caching, compression, and minification techniques. You should also use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights and GTmetrix to measure and improve your site speed.

4 Risk 4: Broken links and 404 errors

Broken links and 404 errors are links that lead to non-existent or inaccessible pages on your website, or on external websites. They can negatively impact your SEO performance by hurting your user experience, credibility, and link equity. They can also waste your crawl budget and prevent search engines from indexing your pages. To avoid broken links and 404 errors, you should regularly audit and update your internal and external links, and use tools like Google Analytics and Ahrefs to find and fix any broken links and 404 errors on your site.

5 Risk 5: Technical SEO errors

Technical SEO errors are issues that affect the crawling, indexing, and rendering of your website by search engines. They can include problems with your robots.txt file, sitemap, schema markup, HTTPS, mobile-friendliness, and more. These errors can prevent search engines from understanding and ranking your website properly, and also create a poor user experience. To avoid technical SEO errors, you should follow the best practices and guidelines for technical SEO, and use tools like Google Search Console and SEMrush to audit and fix any technical SEO errors on your site.

6 Risk 6: Algorithm updates

Algorithm updates are changes that search engines make to their ranking factors and criteria, in order to provide the best results for their users. They can have a significant impact on your SEO performance, either positively or negatively, depending on how well your website aligns with the new rules and expectations. To avoid algorithm updates risks, you should stay updated and informed about the latest changes and trends in SEO, and monitor your rankings, traffic, and analytics regularly. You should also use tools like MozCast and Rank Ranger to track and analyze any fluctuations or drops in your SEO performance due to algorithm updates.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?