6 Habits That Could Be Damaging Your Google Rankings

So, you already have an SEO strategy in place for your website. But, you notice that your Google rankings are dropping. You cannot figure out what is going wrong. Going into that type of freefall can be demoralising, especially if you have been working hard to get onto the first page of search engines. Know that some ranking fluctuations can happen if you pause your SEO campaigns and you become complacent. However, if you still cannot figure out what is going wrong, perhaps it is something within that strategy that is causing issues.

Remember that SEO is hard. This is particularly true when Google changes its algorithm as often as it does. So, it is easy to make mistakes. The most important thing is that you catch them before they do more damage. So, here are six habits that might be causing Google rankings to drop.

Going Overboard with Target Keywords

Every SEO strategy is going to involve target keywords. You base your content around these, and you include them on every page to help with rankings. Indeed, keywords help to connect you with the right audience. But, there is one mistake that many website owners make. Sometimes, they do not even realise they are doing it. We are talking about overusing target keywords.

In other words, you could be keyword stuffing, and Google does not like this. In fact, it will penalise you for going overboard with target keywords. So, this is something that you have to be mindful of. You could be hitting the right keywords and phrases but doing it too much. The last thing you want is for your ranking to suffer because of this.

Using Article Spinning Tools

New content is essential for improving your Google ranking. But, it is not just the freshness of the content that matters. Search engines are looking for quality too. After all, their job is to deliver the best websites to their users. They want to recommend sites that are valuable and what the audience is looking for. A big mistake that site owners are making is using article-spinning tools. While this seems like a good way to save time and keep churning out new content, the results can be disastrous. 

Therefore, stay away from article-spinning tools. They create articles that do not read well to customers, as well as being spotted by Google. There is no shortcut to quality articles. If you do not have time, you can always think about hiring an SEO agency to help create a strategy for SEO. They are going to create a custom strategy for your site, taking care of all the optimisation and new content creation, as well as everything behind the scenes.

Duplicating Webpage Content

If you offer the same types of products and services on your website, you might think about duplicating the web pages. After all, the customers need to know the same information. You can just tweak the pages, such as changing the titles for the products and services. This will save time and will be harmless, right?

Wrong. Duplicating webpage content is something that can damage your site’s ranking. It can be seen as plagiarism, which is not what you want. Instead, you have to make an effort to create unique pages for your site. This way, each page can help your ranking and not hinder it.

Not Paying Attention to Algorithm Updates

Did you know that Google changes its algorithm on a regular basis? Have you been ignoring the big updates in the past and thought that they were not that big of a deal? Well, this is something that is likely to have a direct impact on your Google ranking. You could be thinking that your SEO strategy is fantastic because it was getting results in the past. But, if you have not been paying attention to the algorithm updates, your strategy will be out of date. As a result, you could be actively damaging your ranking.

So, you need to get out of this habit. In other words, you need to start paying attention to the updates that happen. They can directly affect your SEO strategy and change the techniques you use. Being aware of this when it happens means that you can adjust your strategy and ensure you are not damaging your site.

Being Unfriendly to Mobile

There are so many people searching on mobile devices nowadays. They could be looking to buy certain products or visit certain stores. They will use their mobile device to find exactly what they are searching for. So, if you do not have a website design that is friendly to mobiles, you will notice that you are losing a lot of custom. What’s more, Google does not favour websites that are unfriendly towards mobile users.

Therefore, take this as a warning. It is time to update your website. You want to ensure that it can be viewed properly on mobile devices and that it is adaptable. What’s more, the pages should load quickly too. All of this allows your website to be mobile-friendly and easy to use for customers. When your website works well, people are more likely to hang around as well as make purchases.

Links to Low-Quality Sites

Link building is something that you should be doing to boost your Google rankings. But, the one problem many people have is that they do not have the time to do it correctly. They still want the same results. However, they are unwilling to put the time and effort in. So, they look for shortcuts and things they can do to cheat the system. The problem is that this can often harm your rankings.

For example, if you are linking to low-quality sites, realise that this is going to backfire on you. It is not going to boost your ranking the way you want it to. You have to make an effort to get high-quality sites and ones that you want link juice from.