You’re a project manager. What SEO mistakes are you making?

As a project manager, before you publish any page, make sure the page targets a keyword with search traffic potential. Some of the common mistakes we may do: 1. Not doing keyword research 2. Not matching search intent 3. Not optimising content 4. Targeting keywords that are too difficult 5. Not building enough backlinks 6. Breaking Google’s terms of service when building links 7. Missing internal link opportunities 8. Not letting Google crawl your content 9. Not letting Google index your content Not fixing technical issues 10. Having an extremely slow site 11. Treating SEO as a one-time thing 12. Not tracking your results

As a project manager, some common SEO mistakes I might be making include neglecting keyword research, failing to optimize website metadata, overlooking mobile responsiveness, and not prioritizing high-quality content. Additionally, I might be ignoring the importance of backlinks and internal linking structure, neglecting to monitor website performance metrics, and not staying updated with SEO trends and algorithm changes. Addressing these mistakes by implementing a comprehensive SEO strategy can significantly improve website visibility and organic traffic.

As a project manager, common SEO mistakes might include neglecting keyword research, not optimizing for mobile, ignoring site speed, overlooking metadata like title tags and meta descriptions, not leveraging analytics to track performance, and failing to create quality, engaging content. Focusing too much on quantity over quality of backlinks can also harm SEO. It's crucial to address these areas to improve search engine rankings and drive traffic to your site.

Keyword research is not just about finding words; it's about understanding user intent and the questions your audience is trying to answer. As an SEO expert, I've seen many projects benefit from focusing on long-tail keywords, which often have lower competition and can drive highly targeted traffic. Tools like Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush are invaluable for uncovering these opportunities and should be used not only to identify keywords but also to analyze trends and predict shifts in user behavior. This foresight can be the difference between a good SEO strategy and a great one.

Your content has to tread the thin line between covering information comprehensively yet not filling up with unnecessary details that would make it difficult for the user to find what they're looking for. Remember that article where you had to scroll down to almost the middle to find anything useful because the first half was just "fluff" to bump up the word count? Search engines may forgive you for that (for the time being) but your user definitely won't. Do ensure your content has: 1) Relevant keywords 2) Good structure 3) Meta information 4) Non stock images 5) Readable format 6) Non text content like videos, infographics etc 7) Internal links and reference Without: 1) Keyword stuffing 2) Filling the article with fluff

Without tracking your SEO performance, you won't know what's working. Use Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor traffic, rankings, and engagement, and adjust your strategy based on this data.

I have recently completed research in one industry sector that showed that out of 32 organisations only 3 (less than 10%) had a Performance Score of more than 80 in Google PageSpeed Insights. None of the websites analysed had a Performance Score of 90+, which is the level expected by Google and would give a "green light" in their traffic light system. So I have seen first hand, in a subset of one particular industry, an example of where technical issues are not being prioritised and not being fixed. Yet any one of the websites analysed could gain a competitive advantage by simply fixing some technical errors. The errors themselves are simple to identify and some, at least, are simple to fix without major web development work.