Search engine optimization (SEO) can be a complicated process, especially if you are not very familiar, or well-versed, with the method. A lot of SEO beginners, and even some professionals, continue to commit the same mistakes when they do try to use SEO, thereby making it harder for them to get the results that they desire for their site’s page ranking.

Fortunately for you, by simply determining what mistakes they make and avoiding them, you can actually fair off better than those people who commit them, even if you are an SEO beginner. If you are already well-versed with the SEO process, then learning these mistakes won’t hurt your chances either, but rather, help improve them.

Wrong or irrelevant keywords

A lot of people try to use popular or common keywords in order to get people to their sites, regardless if the keywords that they use have any relevance to their site or not. You may be able to generate traffic using this type of method, but since you are not offering relevant content based on your keyword, people visiting your site will just end up leaving simply because you are not offering any content that they are looking for. You are actually getting traffic of market that isn’t even interested in your site or its content, so you just end up with nothing.

Avoid doing this method, instead try to focus on using genuine relevant keywords, so you can direct traffic of possible clients to your site, and not just useless web traffic.

Overuse of keywords

Another mistake that people do when they try to optimize their site is by over-using keywords, or using them repeatedly in the title, tags and body. They believe that by overloading their site’s content with their chosen keywords, they will be able to trick search engines, and improve their site’s page ranking in the process.

Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case. Search engines will be able to detect if you are committing the over-use of keywords, or “spamming”, and if so, your site will pay the ultimate price by getting itself banned from the search engine’s index.

Good or relevant content missing

You may believe that even if you do not offer any good or relevant content in your site that your site itself is still good enough to get and keep the traffic that you are able to produce, but this, however, is not the case, as good and relevant content is what will get people, or your possible clients, to stay to your site.

People are driven to go to your site with the keywords that you have chosen, but it is your site’s content that they will be looking for, so make sure that whatever keywords you have chosen to use, those keywords will direct them to relevant web content in your site. Do take the time to write good and relevant content in order to ensure that your site would continue to do well against others offering the same thing. Remember that the only way that you can get your site to stand out against other sites would be your site’s content.

Wrong HTML codes = HTML errors

If your site commits a lot of HTML errors when people try to access it, even if it has very good and relevant content, chances are people will visit your site a whole lot less. So before you submit your site to search engine directories, you need to check and double-check your HTML codes to avoid any problems with your site, such as slow loading time, browser conflicts, and low page ranking.

Too much graphics

Bear in mind that search engines detect texts when indexing, analyzing and checking sites, and are not programmed to look for graphics, so creating a graphics-rich site will not give it an edge over other sites in terms of SEO, but can actually have the opposite effect. Since search engines are not programmed to look for graphics, they may bypass your site, giving it a lower page ranking.

Learn to avoid these SEO mistakes, and you should be able to do a whole lot better than others.