Building a new website can be an exciting project, but it’s important to pay close attention to all the details in order to ensure its success. One of the most crucial aspects to keep in mind is search engine optimisation (SEO). Properly optimising your website is vital for attracting valuable traffic and potential customers, but if you neglect SEO best practices, you may miss out on these opportunities. Here are five common SEO mistakes to avoid when building a new website.
1. Neglecting Keyword Research
Keyword research is an essential step in achieving SEO success. It involves understanding what your target audience is searching for and what keywords they’re using to find what they need. Without conducting proper keyword research, you won’t be able to optimise your website effectively. For example, if you own a flower shop, you might think that people would search for “flowers” when they’re looking for a florist, but they might actually search for “local florists” or “best florists in town”. Knowing what terms your audience is using to find your business is crucial for optimising your website and reaching them effectively.
2. Ignoring On-Page Optimisation
On-page optimisation refers to the various techniques used to optimise individual web pages for search engines. This includes things like meta descriptions, headings, and image optimisation. Neglecting on-page optimisation can significantly harm your website’s visibility and ranking, so it’s important to ensure that your website is optimised for search engines. For example, including keywords in your headings and meta descriptions can help search engines understand the content of your website and make it more likely to show up in search results.
3. Not Having a Mobile-Friendly Website
With more and more people relying on their mobile devices to access the internet, having a mobile-friendly website has become crucial for SEO success. If your website is not optimised for mobile devices, you could be missing out on a significant portion of your target audience. A mobile-friendly website not only makes it easier for people to find and interact with your website, but it can also help improve your website’s ranking in search results. Make sure to check your website’s responsiveness on different devices and ensure that all elements of your website are easily accessible on a small screen.
4. Neglecting Content Quality
The quality of your website’s content plays a crucial role in SEO success. Poor quality content won’t attract or engage your audience, and it can even harm your website’s ranking. To avoid this, make sure your content is well-written, informative, and relevant to your target audience. Content that is high-quality, relevant, and informative can help establish your website as an authoritative source, which can lead to improved search engine ranking and increased traffic.
5. Not Having an XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap is a file that lists all of the pages on your website and helps search engines crawl your site more effectively. Without an XML sitemap, search engines may have trouble finding all of your website’s pages, which can hurt your ranking. Having an XML sitemap makes it easier for search engines to discover your website’s pages, which can result in improved ranking and increased traffic.
If you’re building a new website, make sure to create and submit an XML sitemap to search engines to ensure your website is easily discoverable.
Ensuring a Smooth Transition
Building a new website is a great opportunity to get things right from the start and avoid common SEO mistakes. This is where our team can help ensure you get a stunning new website whilst also ensuring your current rankings aren’t heavily disturbed by the changes.
For more information or to even discuss your next project please get in touch with us today.
Contact us today on +27 (0) 7137 04327