If you want to boost your popularity in search results, improving your meta descriptions is a great place to begin. Compelling, keyword-focused snippets will tell your audience exactly what your content is all about and what they're missing by not clicking.

Below, we're going to provide you with proven tips for how to write compelling Meta descriptions that will boost your rankings. With a few key adjustments, you can expect to see a surge in web traffic and discover for yourself that dominating Google search results is possible for anyone.

What is a Meta Description?

A meta description is an attribute of HTML that describes the content on a web page.

Whenever you enter a keyword or phrase into a search engine, a list of results will appear. The main clickable link features the headline. Below this, you will find the meta description. While the meta description serves a variety of purposes, it effectively acts as advertising copy to win users over to your website versus the other results.

You must manually enter a meta description either through HTML or by using built-in tools offered by your CMS (content management system). You can generally find the place to enter your meta description under your SEO settings along with your topic and URL. Meta descriptions should be no longer than 160 characters, and you should aim between 120 and 150 characters.

Why Do Meta Descriptions Matter?

It may surprise you to learn that the meta description is one of the few things that does not directly impact search rankings. By that, we mean that crawlers are focusing on the content, tags, and links featured on the page itself. So, why do meta descriptions matter when it comes to rankings on search engine results pages?

Meta descriptions play a significant role in clickthrough rates. If given the choice between a result with an attractive description and promising information versus a boring description that's unclear, users will always choose the carefully crafted one. What Google is interested in are the pages that more users are choosing to engage with. When more people click on a website, Google weighs this into consideration, they can more easily determine which websites have a higher quality of content and are more deserving of higher rankings.

Whether or not a meta description directly impacts the search algorithm directly or indirectly is inconsequential. The ultimate goal when seeking higher rankings is to get more clicks and a well-crafted meta description is proven to achieve just that.

How Do I Write Compelling Meta Descriptions?

Improving the quality of your meta descriptions is not difficult if you know what works best. Start employing the key suggestion below if you want to start boosting your rankings the right way.

1. Provide a Succinct Description of the Content

Your meta description should always help to describe exactly what the reader will find when they click on your link. This is not an opportunity to misdirect or deceive users into clicking through by making false promises. Google's main priority is to help users find the most pertinent and valuable data that relates to their queries. Being dishonest with your descriptions will adversely affect your website. Those types of clicks will also negatively impact your bounce rate.

Instead, explain to the user what's waiting for them on the other side of the link. Remember that you have between 120 and 150 characters. Focus on the highlights, make use of your primary keyword, and trust that your content is worth viewing.

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2. Inspire Intrigue with Your Meta Descriptions

Even though you must describe the content accurately, that doesn't mean you need to give away all of the most valuable material right away. Just as you would do with any other form of marketing, you want to give away just enough to inspire interest without giving away the entire product. The meta description naturally lends itself to this concept due to its naturally short length.

Let’s look at an example. If someone is searching “how to draw” and your result is on the first page, what sounds more appealing?

Example A: “Anyone can learn how to draw whether they are talented or not. Drawing is a skill, just like reading or cooking, or playing soccer. Sure, some people seem to…”

Example B: “Here is where you’ll find every single one of our how-to-draw lessons! It’s a massive drawing library! You’ll find lessons for young and old kids.”

These meta descriptions come from actual search results. The first is a result that's relegated to page four. It appears that the webmaster failed to create a meta description, leaving Google to retrieve its snippet from the actual on-page content. While it is still relevant to our search, the snippet features vague statements that don't compel us to learn more.

The second meta description is from our number one result. Even though it's not the most eloquent description, it tells us exactly what they're promising. By clicking their link, you're not only going to learn how to draw, but you will gain access to an entire library that accommodates all age groups. The description is unquestionably better, and we can assume that their clickthrough rate is quite high as a result of their ranking.

Use this premise to highlight the value you're offering to the user with just one click of your link.

3. Use Your Primary Keyword in the Description

Not only is a meta description another opportunity to incorporate your target keyword, but the entire phrase will also be highlighted in bold to grab the user's attention. When competing with other results, you always need to focus on doing what you can to pull eyes to your link. A user is far more likely to skim past results without a bolded keyword or phrase than ones that have them.

However, this does not mean you should pack keywords into your description. Always keep in mind that you have limited characters to work with, and stuffing keywords into that space seems obvious, off-putting, and makes your text read poorly. Google is also not fond of keyword stuffing, so it's best to avoid this practice no matter where you are typing.

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4. Every Meta Description Must Be Unique

Duplicate content always makes a poor impression. At worst, it can result in penalties that lower your SEO score. At best, it makes your brand appear lazy, negligent, and uninspired.

Take the time to review your website and check for any pages that might share identical meta descriptions. Consider rephrasing the duplicate ones either manually or through an online tool to make them 100% unique. Revise each description to reflect the content that the user will find on the page and avoid overgeneralized descriptions that fail to do this.

Though there are circumstances in which experts can argue for allowing an auto-populated description, writing your own each time you create a page or post an article is the best way to avoid this problem.

5. Focus on Value

Writing a meta description should be similar to writing short-form ad copy. In that regard, you should take advantage of the opportunity to promote value to your audience. If you're providing a special offer, a promotion, an opportunity for free materials, be sure to highlight this in the description.

A great way to do this is to make use of value terms or phrases such as “the most popular,” “the best available,” or “highly-rated.” Consider that users have already expressed interest in your offerings by searching for the keywords you are ranking for. Take advantage of that innate interest by demonstrating the value you offer over your competitors.

6. A/B Test Your Meta Descriptions

A/B testing will always serve as an excellent way to see what works with actual numbers to support it. Instead of writing a description and calling it a day, work with your team to create two or more variations of a description for each page.

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This will allow you to explore different methods of advertising your content. It may surprise you to see how a slight variation to a sentence or the inclusion of a new keyword can attract more clicks.

Set your initial meta description and allow that page to run long enough to gather data with Google Analytics. It will generally take several weeks to gather enough input to make an actionable decision. Then, change only the meta description and leave the content on the page the same. Test your new description and see what earns you a better clickthrough rate.

Not only will this research boost the performance of that single page, but you can also use the knowledge gained from A/B testing to craft better meta descriptions in the future that appeal to your unique audience.

Conclusion: Begin Writing Compelling Meta Descriptions Today!

Meta descriptions may not be a direct factor in Google's ranking algorithm, but it nevertheless has a tremendous impact on your site's SEO value. It is your opportunity to advertise your content, intrigue the reader, and entice them with your unique proposition value.

Effective keyword usage will also support a clear description by highlighting the exact phrases the user is searching for. Including unique meta descriptions for each page will also provide each of your website pages with an opportunity to demonstrate its own, unique value. If you ever have any doubts about the right direction for your meta description, always defer to A/B testing and allow the analytics to speak for themselves.

By staying conscious of these tips each time you create a new page or write a new blog post, you, too, can boost your rankings.

One final tip - take time to search for topics that interest you. Study the top results and consider how those brands take advantage of our proven tips as well as the unique things they do that are unique to their style. To be the best, you need to learn from the best. In doing so, ranking your site at number one can become a real possibility.

Content marketing is highly successful and is overgrowing across the globe. You must be familiar with various elements of content marketing and SEO. Some of its most overlooked features include article or page headings, especially H1 tags.

We frequently use them to help users understand the topic and optimize the article with keywords. Still, very few people know that creating H1 tags is the secret recipe for rankings and traffic.

Web admins know very little about the power of H1s and how you can use them to improve engagement, Click Through Rate, and time spent on the site. We talk a lot about H1s but never pay attention to enhancing rankings with the intelligent use of H1 tags.

Here you will learn the secret recipe of how to write H1s that appeal to search engines and users.

H1 heading carries a lot of significance for visitors. It is a strong indicator of whether a person is going to read a page or not. Apart from that, it also determines the relevancy of the search engines.

In HTML, headings tags are defined in the following hierarchy:

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We will create an H1 tag using this markup code in HTML

<h1> Are you ready to launch your own digital agency?</h1>

To know how it works, let's open a new web page, preferably a blog post.

The H1 tag on this page is "How to Create a Powerful Marketing Funnel Step-by-Step." Now, take a look at how it looks on "View Source."

Please pay attention to the highlighted H1 tags. The text - "How to Create a Powerful Marketing Funnel Step-by-Step" can easily be seen between the tags.

It looks pretty straightforward, but the H1 holds much more value than you can think of from an SEO and content marketing perspective.

What Can H1s Do For Your Website?

H1s are extremely good for search engines as with different variations; you may target different keywords. It will allow you to attract entirely different sets of audiences.

There are several instances when web admins experimented with H1s and noticed dramatic results. Neil Patel wanted to attract an entirely new audience for his blog. To achieve that, he decided to improve his site and that included updating an H1 on one of his blogs.

In less than a week, organic traffic multiplied by 85%, and its ranking improved from page three of search results to 8th position on page one.

And all of this happened just by changing the H1. Neil made no significant changes in an SEO strategy or investment in off-page promotion or link-building.

So, here is something every SEO professional must know:

Tip: H1s have always been a significant ranking factor, so optimize your H1 according to users and relevant keywords before anything else.

Are H1 Tags the Same Thing as Title Tags?

Not really.

H1s are the first headings or titles of a page or article, whereas HTML title tags are created for search engines. They tell the search engine what your page is all about and are independent of the H1s or header tags.

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So, a page's title can be completely different from H1s.

However, the SEO rule book says that the title tag should be a combination of your H1 tag and the title of your website.

Let's consider the following example:

The title of the article is "A-to-Z Guide to White Label Solutions for Marketing Agencies."

The title of the website is "White-Label Solutions for Digital Marketing Agencies."

Then your title tag should be something along these lines:

"White-Label Solutions for Digital Marketing Agencies ā An A-to-Z Guide"

Instead of separating both these parts by a dash (-), a pipe ("|") is also used frequently,

Here is the top SERP returned by Google for the keyword "iPhone 12 reviews."

Have a look at the titles separated by both a dash and a pipe:

Remember, most of the search results highlight the title tag and not the H1 tag. H1 tag is just for further info about the page's contents to enable a better user experience.

User Optimization of H1s

Contemporary SEO is more about user optimization. If users find that your website is easily navigated, Google will reward it with high rankings. Your website will get improved rankings if it’s content:

1. Answers users’ queries
2. Matches their search intent
3. Hooks them and keeps them coming for further information

You shouldn't rely on a few technical tweaks to immediately push your site up the SERP ladder. The focus should be user experience ā all else is secondary.

SEO is an art ā- and not math, and the ultimate objective of all this exercise is to offer a better user experience.

Tip: So, here as well, when you optimize your site and on-page elements such as H1 tags, etc., aim to provide what the searchers are looking for. If your H1 matches the user intent, you're likely to see an overnight jump in rankings.

How to Create the Perfect H1 Tag?

Here are five powerful tips for writing a perfect H1 tag that will boost SEO on your site and improve the user experience:

1. Use a Single H1

Technically, we can use multiple H1 tags per page, but it will create confusion and negatively impact the user experience. It will also dilute the value of an H1.

One major drawback of using multiple H1 tags is that these can easily confuse search engines regarding target keywords so that the page ranking may drop. It may also confuse users in terms of the content on the page.

So go with a single tag, even if it ends up becoming a long one.

If you have multiple subheaders or need more to explain the content, use the H2 tags for the purpose.

It won't confuse Google since Google loves multiple H2 tags and perceives such content as rich content.

2. Keep Your Tag within 20-70 Characters Range

Even though you can very well have a long tail H1 tag, try to restrict it within the range of 20 to 70 characters. There can be several reasons for that, but the user experience is a significant reason as a small header helps the user instantly understand the topic.

A longer tag may become even longer when a website's name is added to it. Imagine when a super long H1 tag appears in the SERPs. Would it look that user-friendly? In that case, Google won't even publish the entire tag. It will just shorten it and add ellipsis, i.e., "..."

When the complete information doesn't reach the users, they might skip the result. So keeping it within 20 to 70 characters will help you put it in front of the users, so they can easily understand that your website contains what they are looking for.

3. Make your H1 Stand Out

Aesthetics play an important role while creating your H1s. To ensure perfect styling, look at `the text in your WordPress draft. Ensure that the text stands out and there is plenty of white space before and after the tags, so the tags appeal to the eyes and look clutter-free.

Please take a look at it from your audience's viewpoint.

Examples:

Here is an excellent H1 tag:

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Now have a look at this example, where H1 doesn't stand out:

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4. Avoid Keyword Stuffing

If you have already used a keyword in your H1, avoid stuffing it throughout the article, as Google considers it keyword stuffing. It was an old SEO practice when web admins stuffed keywords to rank high, but many major algorithm updates announced by Google after Panda aimed to penalize such sites. However, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't include keywords in your article. Optimizing your content with intent-based keywords is standard practice, but it should look natural and not forced. Google wants to make sure that nothing makes user experience suffer on a website.

5. Address User Intent

Last but not least, you should now move over user-experience to user-intent. If your H1 addresses the user intent (what they are looking for), there is no reason it won't help you to rank high on SERPs.

Your H1 should answer the customers' question or call it "intent," which can be slightly different from the actual query they might use in the search field.

Before we discuss it further, let's have a look at Google's mission statement.

Have a look at this example:

This query "backlinks" is a general keyword where the intent is not very well defined, so we can safely say that the searcher seeks reliable information on what backlinks are and how they are created. You can see that most of the results are informative articles around backlinks, and the H1 includes the query ā "What are backlinks?"

Now let's look at the search results using another keyword, "create backlinks free."

Here, the search query is "create backlinks free," but most of the results are about tools that can create free backlinks because that's the search intent.

Again, look at the result at the third position, which comes from www.fannit.com. They have intelligently combined the search query "free backlinks" with the intent-based query in the H1. That's what you can try in your H1s. The user wants to know the different ways to create free backlinks, so the article in the SERP suggests tools that you can use to create such links.

It also reduces the bounce rate.

Here is an essential insight into how Google engineers run a user-intent test on a website. According to them, if a searcher doesn't return to SERPs soon after clicking on a link, it's a positive indication that they are pleased with the result. Such websites have a low bounce rate.

On the contrary, if he comes back within seconds, it hints that Google sent them to a page that wasn't relevant to the search query. If it occurs frequently, it will increase the bounce rate. It happens when the user doesn't find what they are looking for. Google drops the rankings of such a website.

Tip: Align your H1 tag with your title, content, and targeted keyword. It's crucial for the retention of a visitor. If you claim something in your H1, your content should prove it.

FAQs:

1. What Is the Difference Between an H1 Tag and a Header Tag?

There is no difference. Both the terms “H1 tag” and “header tag” are used frequently because the H1 tag is nothing but the article’s title. Don’t confuse it with the HTML <head> section though. It’s a part of HTML <body>.

Title tag goes into the <head> section.

2. How to Manually Check if an H1 Tag Exists on a Web Page?

Right-click on the concerned web page and click on “View Source.” A tab will open with some raw HTML coding. Now do a Ctrl+F term search for “<H1.” Hit the enter button; it’ll take you to the first “H1” on the page. If you can’t find any tag, it means the H1 tag doesn’t exist on that page — create one immediately.

3. What Should Be the Position of the H1 Tag on the Page?

It should be on top of the page for SEO purposes because that is what Google expects from you. Please make note that Google considers it as the title of the page. And if you want any other text to be highlighted below, tag it as subheader text such as H2, H3, etc.

4. Does Your H1 Tag Have to Be Stylish?

For SEO purposes, no — but it needs to be stylish to appeal to human eyes. Usual style elements are color, size, font, and spacing. If your website suffers because of any of these elements, you need to reconsider adding that. Remember: the mobile-friendliness of a website is one of the chief concerns of Google.

5. Should the H1 Tag Match With the Title Tag?

No, it should not. For HTML, both these are two different elements. Even though they define the same article — the article title doesn’t appear on the web page. It’s meant for Google spiders. The H1 seems on the web page as Page Title, intended for both humans and Google bots.

What Are Common H1 Tag Errors Many SEOs Make, and How to Avoid That?

Below are the four most common mistakes SEO professionals make. Go through them and never commit such mistakes:

1. Creating Content Without an H1 Tag

H1 tag helps your visitors understand what your content is all about. So, it’s good for SEO and user experience. You must be paying a lot in terms of rankings if you don’t have an H1 tag.

2. Using Only a Single H1 Tag When You Need More

If you feel your content requires more than one H1s, go for that. It helps in SEO and user experience as a single piece of content may provide solutions to different sets of audiences.

3. Focusing Too Hard on Search Engines

Don’t focus too hard on search engines or changing algorithms. Pay attention to user experience, and everything else will fall in place. Make it simple, but adding relevant keywords and creating a few variations of your H1 would immensely help you if it improves user experience on the site.

4. Don’t Duplicate H1s

Avoid repeating your H1s from external websites and your own website. It’s not a good practice. H1s should be unique as the search engines would rank your web page accordingly. Duplicating H1s can confuse search engines.

Conclusion

Use the suggestions given in this article on how to improve your H1 tags for higher rankings and traffic. Revisit your website, identify the weak H1 tags and implement these tips to improve them. However, user experience is still the most crucial element for rankings and traffic. Make sure everything you do improves user experience and skip everything that harms it.

Everybody wants their website to be robust, run smoothly, and be error-free. Website owners use Google Search Console to detect any errors. However, there is hardly an entirely error-free website.

In Google Search Console, you receive schema validation notifications containing enormous information about these errors and how to fix them. While performing SEO, you need to take care of many small things, including the schema errors that Google Search Console highlights.

Website owners must know everything about schema validation errors and how to fix them.

The article will also discuss the most common Schema issues such as “Either”, “Offers”, “Review”, or “aggregateRating”, “Should be Specified” errors, etc.

What Are Schema Validation Errors?

Most of these errors are primarily about the formatting of the Schema data. Google finds it difficult to interpret this information.

Search engines interpret Schema, the structured data, to understand what a web page is all about. So, critical information on any topic, such as the author of a book, its publishing date, and the number of pages it contains, can be coded as structured data. The search engine will highlight this information on the SERP itself to help users.

The rich results you see on the search engine result page are shown by search engines using the schema data on the web page. For example, let’s have a look at the below screenshot. Here is the search result Google displays for the query “fountainhead,” a famous novel by author Ayn Rand.

While a search engine needs just the URL and meta description to display search results, it needs more information to show rich results.

If the schema markup is done right, you will get a better Click Through Rate. But schema validation errors can get in your way and may prevent rich results from appearing correctly on the SERP.

You don't necessarily need a developer to do the schema markup as Yoast SEO, and many other website builders can do it for you. However, you may still come across schema validation errors

Before going forward, let's discuss how to add structured data to your website

What are Schema Validation Errors in Google Search Console?

Google Search Console (GSC) brings you essential insights related to traffic stats and errors affecting your SEO. So, it's a good idea to check your website for such mistakes regularly.

One such common issue that GSC alerts you about is a schema validation error. Such issues occur when you have structured your data incorrectly, and Google faces issues understanding it.

The best thing about Schema.org is that you're free to add as much information as you can to your website about your product or service, so search engines may fetch it if needed and show your site for relevant search queries.

Websites hardly get the opportunity to earn users' clicks. Since there is already a lot of competition on a search results page, web admins need to use various features to differentiate their website from others. So if your Schema is appropriately coded, you may get additional opportunities to get people's attention.

Here are some of the most popular schema markup that you can utilize:

• Organization: Specifics related to the organization
• Person: Details of a person
• Local business: Details such as an address, maps, opening times, contact details, etc.
• Products and offers: Details of product and offers
• Articles: Published as a blog post or a news article
• Video: Details required to rank on Google
• Event: Helps users get information about upcoming events
• Reviews: Fetches business reviews from Google
• Ratings: Displays average rating for a product or business

So, what can be an error here?

If the above information isn’t formatted correctly, or Google doesn’t find the desired info it’s looking for, it will flash it as a Schema validation error.

Three Schemas You Need to Avoid the “Either “Offers”, “Review”, or “aggregateRating” Should be Specified” Error

According to Google, the best way to use markups is to use all product markups, including offers, reviews, etc. It will attract eyeballs, increase the CTR and boost sales.

Customers are more inclined to look for offers and social proof while making a buying decision.

You get numerous opportunities to showcase the discounts, offers, and social proof on the result page with rich results. It attracts people to click on the page and also increases the chances of a sale. If a schema markup is not corrected at specific pages, schema validation errors will appear in Google Search Console.

Three errors you will commonly face are for “offers,” “review,” and “aggregateRating.”

In the code, it will appear in a “Either “Offers”, “Review”, or “aggregateRating” Should be Specified” warning.

We will use the following three schemes to fix this error:

• Offers

To make your product page visible, you need to share your offers. Whether these are organic searches or paid advertisements, your offers become irresistible to the users. So, using schema markups becomes highly effective in paid advertising. The more creative you are with your offers, the more effective your sales promotion would be. Cost doesn't trigger a buying decision, but it becomes essential for actual sales. Schema can be extremely helpful when you promote discounts and offers. Click here to know more about the offer schema.

• Review

If you are into marketing, you must be aware of the value of social proof. The Internet has only magnified it. We can instantly know about the experience, opinions, and feedback of numerous people around the globe who have bought the same product we're looking to buy. With a barrage of new products coming our way every day, modern customers have no option but to look for reviews online before they decide to purchase anything. So, savvy marketers use social proof as a tactic to attract clicks on search engines. And you can best do this by implementing the correct Schema.

• Rating

Star ratings are a visual form of product feedback. It's used to rate a brand, business, or services a particular business imparts. It's become so common that people take it as an indirect signal even to consider buying or dealing with a company. If a product did not show a rating, it's simply ignored. Rating is regarded as a convenient and abridged form of review. If you have sound social proof, your rating will reflect it. If you have a good rating, showcase it byĀ using the rating schema.

How to Fix the Schema Validation Error “Either “Offers”, “Review”, or “aggregate rating” Should be Specified”

If you want to know how many pages are affected by these errors, click on “Either “Offers”, “Review”, or “aggregateRating” Should be Specified” warnings in Google Search Console.

If you use WooCommerce, (a community mainly hit by these errors), the alert is not sounded for product pages; it’s for category pages.

The reason for this is that WooCommerce has built-in schema functionality for the product pages. Thus, it automatically sets schemas such as the name and description of the product along with its image, availability, URL, price, review, and AggregateRating.

So, in the case of WooCommerce, the errors can be on archived products and category pages. The error is caused because WooCommerce adds Schema to the wrong page, not a product page. We can fix it by removing the Schema here. If you continue to face issues, you might consider exploring a WooCommerce alternative like Shopify, which offers a more streamlined approach to handling product pages and Schema integration.

Locate the function.php file in your theme, and add a snippet of code. Here are the steps you can follow:

1. Go to your WordPress dashboard
2. Keep your mouse on “appearance” in the left sidebar << Select “theme editor”
3. Go to the “theme files box on the right << Select “functions.php”
4. Go to the bottom of the text box
5. Paste the following code:

/**
* Remove the generated product schema markup from Product Category and Shop pages.
*/
function wc_remove_product_schema_product_archive() {
remove_action( ‘woocommerce_shop_loop’, array( WC()->structured_data, ‘generate_product_data’ ), 10, 0 );
}
add_action( ‘woocommerce_init’, ‘wc_remove_product_schema_product_archive’ );

It will fix the schema errors on your archive and category pages. Google Search Console will also take off the warning issued.

However, it will not reflect immediately. You might have to wait for the warnings to disappear as GSC takes time to recognize the changes.

Other Schema Validation Errors

In simple words, Schema allows you to talk to search engines, and minor errors may result in miscommunication. With GSC, you can perform a health check on your site's Schema and get deeper insights into how Google views your web page.

The rich results test, a GSC tool, provides insight into how Google perceives your page. A much better analysis is obtained when used in conjunction with GSC.

Here are a few more errors and how to fix them.

• Missing Field Price

It is an error that happens when you enter the price in the wrong format. GSC shows a blank price error in that case. The correct format for entering the price is xx.xx. The dollar sign is not needed here. So, $34.99 would be mentioned as 34.99 without any dollar sign.

• Rating is Missing Best or Worst Values

To avoid surprises, first, include an aggregate rating in your Schema. After entering an aggregate rating, you can enter the lowest and highest rating, usually from one star to five stars.

• Keep a Positive Value in Property ratingCountā

A number for ratings can't be negative, so make sure it's positive. Even if it doesn't have any ratings, the numeric value can never be negative. In that chase, it will be zero.

Conclusion

Since search engines use Schema to understand the content of your website, make sure the codes are correct. Otherwise, GSC will flag it, and you'll end up wasting your time.

Last but not least, in case GSC flags schema validation errors in your site, it doesn't mean that it's a severe issue or your website may lose all its ranking overnight, but it is essential to fix it.

Using Schema successfully boosts your site brings traffic from new audiences, and improves CTR. And if GSC flags some schema validation errors, you can quickly fix them with minor tweaks.

Schema markup is an integral element of your SEO strategy, so make sure there are no errors in it.

SEO is a growing field both in terms of demand and the business opportunities it offers. It is projected to reach $1.6 billion in valuation by 2027. SEO has been emerging as a significant revenue channel ever since its earliest versions as a siloed service. What makes it even more exciting, but also somewhat confusing, is its integration with content marketing.

SEO tactics are constantly evolving with advancements in search engine algorithms and changes in online consumer behavior. As a result, it has become more difficult than ever to stay on top of SERPs. Post-failure recovery can be challenging, painful, and time-consuming.

We have compiled a list of most common SEO mistakes that people frequently make and tips to avoid them. We can divide these mistakes into five major categories.

A. Keywords and Search Intent Related Mistakes
B. On-Page or Technical Mistakes
C. Strategy Related Mistakes
D. Content Related Mistakes
E. UX/UI Related Issues

A. Keywords and Search Intent Related Mistakes

Here are some of the mistakes website owners make when it comes to search intent and keywords:

Mistake #1: Not Knowing What Your Audience is Searching For

Most SEO professionals will agree that finding the right keywords can be tricky. It's part science and part intuition. Good keywords reflect what your audience is searching for. But now, Google offers several tools to help you decode your audience's online behavior.

SEO tools such as SEMrush provide a lot of data about what keywords are being used and how often.

This search query data is precious for an online marketing professional since it reflects how people engage with your website and what kind of terms and keywords they are using to find your products and services. At DashClicks, our dashboard offers numerous functionalities which only some expensive SEO tools offer, so you don't have to buy these tools separately.

Mistake #2: Not Researching User Queries

There are specific queries and questions people use in the search engines to look for products and services that are similar to yours. These questions trigger the related keywords that are used in your industry or niche. Your SEO campaign is incomplete without addressing these questions. Google flashes "People Also Ask" and "Related Searches" in search results to enrich the search experience of an individual. You can also use tools like "Answer the Public" to find such questions.

Mistake #3: Lack Of Natural Keywords Targeting

You should include natural keywords on your page to match the content with the customer queries. These keywords can be added to the URL, content, and title of the page. Adding such questions or queries to your content can be the best way to help people find your website. If you create and align your content with popular queries, you can achieve top rankings and traffic easily.

DashClicks' white label SEO services can help you with keyword optimization of your site including the crucial on-page optimization where you add keywords in strategic locations such as URL, content and page title, and meta-description. When you use our white label services, you don't need to hire SEO experts, which can be expensive for a small agency.

B. On-Page or Technical Mistakes

Here are some of the on-page and technical SEO mistakes people frequently make:

Mistake #4: Not Optimizing for location-based searches

Google My Business is considered the starting point of your brand's SEO trajectory. Since many businesses want high visibility on local search, you need to claim your location to feature highly in all "near me" searches. Provide all the information about your business and make sure you answer users' queries.

Mistake #5: Not fixing page titles and meta descriptions

It's pretty basic practice, but most website owners tend to ignore it. It is not uncommon to find "Home" as their page title. If we invest a little time writing informative meta descriptions and meta titles, it will give your on-site SEO a big boost.

The good news is that most of the CMS, such as WordPress, fix it by default. But, if a business owner is a novice and is designing their website independently, it can easily be overlooked. It's important that you know on-page ranking factors as they can be the game-changer for your website's rankings and traffic.

On-Page SEO Ranking Factors

Mistake #6: Retaining old URL structures while revamping your site

Many business owners start rebuilding their websites without changing the old URL structures. The best way to fix such issues is to redirect the old URL to the new page. If you don't do it, Google has no way to find out where they should redirect the traffic, and you may lose all such traffic as a result.

Mistake #7: Placing informative text in images

Sometimes, web designers add important text to the image. Google can't read the text hidden in an image, so such content loses its SEO value by default. It is imperative to use informative text outside the images so that Google bots can read it and use it for indexing.

Mistake #8: Not following latest trends

The problem with startups is that they don't invest in SEO as a top priority. Furthermore, they practice old-school SEO and don't follow the most recent trends. If you don't follow the latest trends and SEO best practices such as voice search and rich snippets, you may lose traffic and rankings. Here are some hot SEO trends in 2021:

1. Schema:

Schema.org is used to mark up web pages using HTML so search engines can understand the nature of the content on those pages. The Schema vocabulary is used along with the Microdata to add information to your web content.

2. Structured Data:

Structured data provides explicit clues about the content of a page to Google. For example, on a recipe page, adding structured data will help Google understand the ingredients, temperature, cooking time, calories, etc.

3. SERP Optimization:

It includes various factors search engines use to provide a unique search experience to the user.

4. Knowledge Graphs & Entities:

Recently introduced by Google, knowledge graphs take the search experience to a new level. These are a collection of interlinked descriptions of entities ā€“ objects, events, or concepts.

5. Core Web Vitals:

It's a Google initiative to provide quality signals about the search results to deliver a better user experience.

6. Mobile SEO:

Mobile responsiveness is an important ranking factor since the number of mobile users is growing rapidly. Therefore, your website must be optimized for mobile and tablets.

7. Marketing Automation:

There are many repetitive marketing activities that can be automated using marketing automation software. Such activities include social media publishing, email marketing, and running ad campaigns.

C. Strategy Related Mistakes

Strategy-related SEO mistakes can also cost you dearly. Using analytics to your advantage, conducting website audits to detect major issues, and avoiding black hat tactics are some of the crucial strategy-related factors you should consider. We're listing some of them below:

Mistake #9: Paying Little Attention to Your Website

Some business owners get their websites designed by inexperienced people, which can lead to disastrous results. Such websites may lack various SEO factors considered crucial for ranking such as quality content, meta-descriptions, page names, and title descriptions. If your website is not professionally designed, it can suffer from severe navigation issues which can be counterproductive from an SEO perspective.

DashClicks brings to you an affordable option to create professional-looking and SEO-optimized sites with their advanced tool InstaSites. InstaSites transforms your prospecting methods into action-packed value within seconds. With the help of this amazing tool, you can create a professional in seconds using niche-specific templates.

Mistake #10: Not Using Analytics to Gauge Conversion Rates

In a mad rush for traffic, people forget that conversion is an even more critical metric than traffic. Yet, they waste precious hours in team meetings that provide very few answers. Most of the time, these keywords are highly competitive, and it isn't easy to rank on them regardless of the tactics you use.

But, if you examine the analytics, you might be in for a surprise. The truth is: most keywords don't help you with conversions. However, specific lower-traffic phrases will convert much better based on the search intent. These keywords are more specific, and if you get first page rankings for any of these terms, they may even drive a few random sales.

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Set up conversion tracking in your analytics framework and constantly track it for the search terms you are targeting. These insights will help you optimize your site for better results.

Mistake #11: Conducting Website Audits at Irregular Intervals

Regular website audits are a must to assess your website's performance both from the client's perspective and for the search engines. Some of the performance issues can have damaging consequences, such as poor user experience. When critical information is difficult to find, it is most likely a red flag. The speed of your website's mobile version is also a critical factor. You will be able to detect any performance issues in your website after a careful evaluation. These issues may be related to SEO, site speed, navigation, checkout process, and content quality.

Mistake #12: Buying Backlinks

The old-school SEO professionals sometimes think of backlinks as a quick fix to clear the path for a newly constructed website. However, this can be counterproductive because most of these backlinks can be from spammy sites, already spammed by Google. You will not drive any SEO value from those backlinks. On the flip side, Google may also penalize your website. The actual link value is extracted from high-authority websites through natural methods such as guest posting and earned links.

Mistake #13: Focusing Only on Onsite SEO

Digital marketing agencies are often tempted to think that their job is done once they are through with the on-site SEO. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. Onsite SEO is an integral part of your website's SEO, and it contributes substantially towards tracking, but on its own, it's often not enough. It would help if you also focused on off-site SEO, such as getting backlinks from some popular directories and publishing guest posts. If you have good-quality content pieces published on third-party websites which point to your website, you will achieve your SEO goals faster.

Mistake #14: Taking SEO As a One-Time Activity

Many people think technical SEO practices can help them accomplish all their marketing goals. In reality, however, it is a routine activity that needs continued investment. There is no such thing as permanent SEO friendliness. To keep yourself updated, you need to continually add high-quality content about your products and services and optimize it with the right keywords.

Mistake #15: Not Having Clear and Predefined SEO Goals

Having predefined and clear goals helps you to steer clear from focusing on pointless vanity metrics. These metrics can be confusing and misleading and may not always help you achieve your core business objectives. SEO professionals think that if you increase traffic, conversions will automatically increase, too. However, data suggest that a website that attracted the traffic of 10000 unique monthly visitors was able to convert only one percent of it into sales. It means that even though your website includes popular keywords to attract traffic, its design is not conducive to increasing revenue.Ā  Whatever may be the case, you can always audit your website to figure out the reasons you are falling short of receiving targeted traffic and conversions.

Mistake #16: Not Having Knowledge about Google Ranking Factors & Algorithm Updates

It's essential to keep yourself updated about Google ranking factors & algorithm updates, so you don't make the avoidable mistakes many SEO professionals make.

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Here are the major ranking factors Google employs that every SEO professional or agency should be familiar with:

• Domain Factors: These factors include domain age, features, and keywords in the top-level domain.
• Page-Level Factors: It includes keywords in the title tag, description tag, table of contents, LSI keywords, keyword density, and content length.
• Site-Level Factors: Content that offers value, insights, contact us page, site architecture, and mobile-optimized site.
• Backlink Factors: It includes linking domain age, number of referring domains, the total number of linking pages, backlink anchor text, and links from .edu or .gov domains.
• User Interaction: It includes RankBrain, which is Google's AI algorithm. Google uses it to know how users interact with the search results and it ranks the results accordingly. Google also considers a higher CTR as a ranking factor.
• Special Google Algorithm Rules: Google may consider content freshness, add diversity to the SERPs, and use featured snippets, etc.
• Brand Signals: It includes the brand name, anchor texts, and brand searches.

At DashClicks, our white label SEO services are designed to provide standard solutions where we keep track of all these ranking factors and algorithm updates. Our teams are trained in providing white-label SEO solutions as per the latest changes in Google algorithms, so you can resell these services without worrying about fluctuations in rankings.

D. Content Related Mistakes

Here are some of the content-related mistakes that SEO professionals frequently commit to. You must be familiar with these mistakes to attain high rankings.

Mistake #17: Not Following the E-A-T and YMYL Factor

Google's ranking policies are often considered mysterious as they aren't that vocal about it. In 2015, Google released the complete version of Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines in response to a leaked version that was making the rounds on the web. These guidelines emphasized the three golden rules to remember when creating web pages. They also explained how Google differentiates high-quality content from the rest. These guidelines are a goldmine for online marketers and SEO professionals. For your convenience, we present them to you:

1. Beneficial Purpose:

Google explains it in the following manner:

"Websites and pages should be created to help users." Specifically, a web page should fulfill its intended purpose, but it should also be user-centered. Websites and pages that are created to harm the users, deceive them or make money off them with no attempt to help them, receive the lowest page quality ratings from Google.

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2. YMYL (Your Money or Your Life):

According to Google, "Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) content is the type of information that, if presented inaccurately, could directly impact the reader's satisfaction, health, safety, or financial well-being." A YMYL page with potentially harmful advice could affect people's lives and livelihood. As a general rule, only experts should write YMYL content. This particularly includes news, current events, legal or financial information, health, safety, fitness, nutrition, shopping, civic and communal matters.

3. E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness):

Expertise generally refers to the creator of the main content (MC) on the page. They should be subject-matter experts and must possess the necessary credentials. Authoritativeness refers to the lead content creator, his creation, and the website on which it appears. It's associated with a generally recognized authority such as a certified professional or an influencer so that readers can trust it as a reliable source of information.

Mistake #18: Not Paying Attention to Content

You must always have fresh and high-quality content on your website. But most of the webmasters make the mistake of not paying enough attention to the content of their blog section. As a result, their blog either dies with little to no activity, or they have sub-standard topics that add no value. Paying attention to the content is the key to success in content marketing and SEO. Make sure you have loads of high-quality content on your website, and that you are regularly adding fresh content that is valuable to your audience.

Mistake #19: Creating Content Only For Robots

Google algorithms are constantly evolving, but that doesn't mean that you should create your content strategy around those algorithms alone. Instead, the standard approach should be to have a content strategy that offers the big picture. Your content must strictly be written for your audience. It should address their pain points, solve their queries, and highlight your competitive advantage. Your content should also boost your branding. It should be engaging and full of insights so that it can attract and retain audiences. Such content will give you a competitive advantage and attract desirable traffic to your website.

E. UX/UI Related Issues

Mistake #20: Ignoring UI & UX of your Website Pages

Not paying attention to UI and UX can be a grave SEO mistake. Here are a few UI/UX factors you should consider for the best SEO results and user experience on your website:

A. Focus on usability

Many business owners emphasize creativity, but they forget an essential factor ā€”Ā  usability. If your website doesn't offer usability, creative efforts are of no use. It's the reason most websites resemble each other. It helps, as most users are familiar with this structure, and they know where they can find the information they are looking for. If a site doesn't offer a good user experience, users will likely bounce off and never return.

B. Don't follow design trends blindly

You should be careful not to follow design trends blindly. Choose a design that offers reliable utility. Design helps, but you shouldn't use it at the cost of functionality.

C. Avoid too much animation

It's best to avoid too much animation. If it helps to make the content feel natural and easy to understand, it's probably in good use. But, be careful to avoid too many popups that may ruin the UX on your website.

D. Use visuals to support text

When appropriate, use visuals rather than text to communicate things effectively.

E. Offer better readability and insert valuable content when necessary

Don't use poor contrast if it offers a bad reading experience. The most important thing is that a good design should accompany useful content. When it is missing from any section of your website, it's as good as having no content at all.

F. Create mobile responsive websites

Make sure that your website design is adaptable. It should fit different screens without distorting the content and its intent.

G. Don't stuff keywords into your content

Gone are the days when there was no way to rank your web presence other than stuffing SEO keywords into your content. Thanks to constantly changing Google algorithms, Google can now differentiate between high-quality content that addresses the needs of the end-user and poor content that is loaded with keywords but offers little value. Quality content must be thoughtful and informative, and not written to dupe the search engines.

Conclusion

Search engine optimization is an integral part of content marketing, and we know that businesses rely heavily on content marketing as the only reliable long-term strategy for digital marketing. But, even the most competent people can make mistakes, and it becomes even more prevalent in the case of SEO. It's best, therefore, to learn from other people's mistakes and avoid them at all costs.

Google uses over 200 ranking factors to maintain its market leadership and provide users the most relevant search results. With over 5.14 billion searches each day, it's the ultimate dream of an online marketer to achieve high rankings on Google SERPs. But the volatility of Google algorithms makes it difficult. Therefore, you must make good use of top Google ranking factors for consistent and optimal results.

In this blog, we'll focus on leading on-page SEO ranking factors to help you improve rankings. We will also discuss the best SEO practices, features of SEO-friendly content, SEO-friendly website builders, and prerequisites of an ideally optimized web page..

Important On-Page Ranking Factors

If your website is brilliantly optimized, chances are it will rank higher. Since Google bots scan the on-page elements first, on-page ranking factors can be a game-changer for your website or web page's ability to rank.

Here we list the top three Google ranking factors to help you improve your rankings and neutralize the impact of Google algorithm updates and consequent ranking fluctuations.

1. Content on Page

Search engine crawlers work relentlessly to find content that offers users value, making content on-page a strong ranking metric. From an SEO perspective, good content must:

1. Offer a solution to the user’s queries and pain points
2. Be linkable

A. Good content resolves issues, addresses demands

Your website should act as a resource for your audience and customers and supply information to meet the immense demand. For example, WikiHow gives people easy instructions to solve day-to-day problems. Apart from text, you can consider videos, podcasts, images, or gifs to provide solutions depending on the demand.

B. Good content is linkable

If your content is not linkable, search engines may discount all the value it offers. If people can't link to your content, Google algorithms will find no way to assess its rank worthiness. As a result, your website will receive no traffic from search engines.

It frequently happens, especially when you have locked content such as eBooks, educational material, or AJAX-powered image slideshows that can be viewed when the reader is logged in. Search engines can't crawl such content. It can't be reproduced or shared either. Search engines and netizens don't like content that doesn't fulfill a demand.

2. Title Tag

Crawlers scan title tags before moving on to the content on the page. Therefore, title tags are an essential and sensitive on-page ranking factor. They also help bots categorize the web page and index it. To know why title tags are so important and how you can write an appropriate title tag, read this Moz article

3. URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

Since category hierarchy is crucial for SEO, it should reflect in the website URL. For example, https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-analyticsĀ  tells us that this HubSpot page is dedicated to Google Analytics (GA) in the online marketing articles category.

Crawlers use this information to assess a web page's relevance. The hierarchy also reflects that the page discusses GA in digital marketing's context, and the page isn't likely a resource that contains GA as a tool. So, if a user is looking for information on GA for online marketing, it's likely that the search engine sends them to this instructional article. It happens before the bots crawl your web page content to know what it is all about.

Now, let's look at a poor URL structure:

http://www.example.com/path/to/80/myfile.html?key1=value1&key2=value2#

This URL doesn't reflect any information hierarchy in the website, making it difficult for search engines to figure out what the page is all about.

Here is another example of a well-crafted and SEO friendly URL:

https://example.com/learn/seo/on-page-factors

It clearly mentions that the concerned page is a learning resource, and it talks about on-page factors under the SEO category.

Tip: The URL structure should help search engines categorize and index the URL as per its relevance. It should also assist you with appropriate anchor text when linking to your content.

Best SEO Practices

Web pages are the real estate of a website. The content on them is the prime reason why the visitors land and stay on your website. So, make sure it's specific and hyper-relevant to the topic. You can use title tags, URLs, content on-page, and Image alt text to state the web page's objective to search engines.

Here is an example of a web page with SEO-friendly content:

https://www.webfx.com/blog/seo/whats-the-difference-between-mobile-seo-and-desktop-seo/

Search engines love this kind of content. Such web pages have the following features:

1. Unique content that has in-depth, relevant, and topical information

2. Well-written, search-engine friendly URL that mentions the topic

3. Images with alt text‍

4. Liberal use of visuals and graphics5. Well-written meta description

Prerequisites of A Properly Optimized Web Page

An SEO-friendly web page should:

1. Have unique, topical content

2. Contain the topic in the title tag, URL, and image alt text

3. Specify the subject and mention related keywords several times in the text content

4. Link back to the category page, sub-category page (if applicable), and homepage‍

Note: This is made easier when you use theĀ best website builder for small business.

Conclusion

To climb the SERP ladder, you need to start from the beginning that’s fixing your on-page SEO. With your website’s on-page elements in place, you can start working on other ranking factors such as search intent, backlinks, domain authority, user experience, and page load speed. If your website is optimized with your target audience in mind, you’ve already won half the battle.

Google uses sophisticated methods to locate, gather, and consolidate vast data to give users relevant results. The search engine is restricted by response time and various other factors when working with these various data types. The search results vary frequently based on factors such as search history, location, interests, and the device used.

Google search results can vary not only on different devices but also on the same device, even when using the same search term. Google also changes the order of search results based on user experience considerations. Therefore, on mobile phones, various elements are removed and replaced by visual elements to avoid distraction. So, mobile SEO can be vastly different from desktop SEO.

Since people spend more than 70% of their internet time on mobile phones, its impact is visible on Google SERPs. Google has also announced its mobile-first indexing policy. So, it's crucial to know the difference between mobile SEO and desktop SEO.

Search Results

With Google's mobile-first indexing policy, search results may vary on different devices. Google gives you results based on search intent, which changes according to the device you use. Therefore, your mobile SEO and desktop SEO need different strategies for optimal results.

Mobile

Since mobile is not as text-friendly as a desktop, you should emphasize the visual elements such as images and videos. That's why test results are shown in big sizes on mobile devices.

To scroll through the search results, a mobile user has to swipe multiple times. With shorter swipes, users feel reluctant to go to the bottom of search results. That's why Google displays the most relevant results on top of mobile search and removes some elements shown only to desktop users. The results may also vary according to the mobile responsiveness of websites. For example, if a website has good content but isn't mobile-friendly, Google will downgrade its mobile ranking.

Desktop

There are no space issues with desktop screens; they can display multiple search results simultaneously. Since they allow users to see a lot more content, they find it easier to scroll through the results and reach the page’s end. So, the generic SERP layout can be different for desktop users. For example, if you search for “what was the civil war,” the desktop results will appear as shown below in the screenshot.

Meanwhile, the mobile results for the exact search will appear something like this:

It clearly shows that visual elements are prominent in mobile search results. There is one more difference in mobile search results. The “people also search for” section immediately follows the Wikipedia result on top, accompanied by visual elements, including battles other than the American Civil War.

“People also ask” is placed below “people also search for” in mobile search. It means visual elements and search intent are crucial for mobile SERP, as smartphone users have shorter attention spans than desktop users.

Click-Through Rate

The placement of the search results in the SERPs is SEO’s ultimate objective, and it’s crucial to figure out how you can help your website appear in the top three results, especially for mobile devices.

Mobile

The click-through rate (CTR) for SERPs drops at a slower pace on mobile devices than on desktops. Several reasons can explain a CTR drop on mobile search results. The results that appear like individualized cards have higher visibility; visual elements such as photos and video thumbnails further boost it. A visually appealing graphic attracts attention even if the result appears lower in the SERPs.

Desktop

Since desktops have bigger screens than smartphones, search results have more space and clarity, allowing you to view several results at one time. But the CTR sharply drops as you go down the page. For example, if the first position has a CTR of 31%, the second will most likely have just 15%. It mainly happens because users can see more results at a time on a desktop.

Search Layout

Search layout also affects your website's SEO. Let's discuss it for both the mobile and desktop versions.

Mobile

Google displays search results differently on mobile phones and desktops. On smartphones, it shows text and pictures with more room for visual elements. That's why you can't see more than 2-3 results on your mobile screen at a time.

Mobile also offers more features than desktop in terms of search results. For example, "knowledge panels" appear on top of mobile devices, whereas they appear to the right on desktops. As a result, the other organic results are pushed down.

Mobile results also have "Interesting Finds" snippets to display relevant web pages that a user can find helpful and exciting. Mobile results also show the site path and the website's name with a favicon. However, it doesn't display the URL.

Desktop

The desktop offers almost all the features that mobiles do, such as featured snippets, people also ask section, knowledge panels, and local 3-packs. However, other organic results don't get pushed down as desktops have enough space to display several listings.

Why are Google search results different on mobile phones than desktops?

User experience is a prime concern for Google, and that's why search results appear differently on different devices. However, it's important to note that it doesn't affect the website rankings. The only difference is the way search results appear.

The search results also vary because people want information quickly on mobile devices. As a result, the search engine has to break up listings and add visual elements like images to make it convenient for users to go through the results and find the most appropriate ones. Desktop users have more time to browse and analyze. Therefore, desktop listings have fewer visual elements and more text-based content because users can spend more time.

Desktop and Mobile SEO Strategies

Given the difference in the search results for both mobile and desktop, you should develop SEO strategies accordingly. But the best practice would be to develop a comprehensive SEO strategy that works for both device types. When you have a device-specific SEO strategy in place, you are more likely to rank higher and attract steady traffic.

Here are a few steps you can take to build an effective SEO strategy for mobile and desktop:

1. Plan a Local SEO Strategy

The best SEO strategy starts with ranking well on local searches. So, focus on the local and "near me" keywords and Google My Business listing.

2. Create a Responsive and User-friendly Design

When you create a responsive design, you optimize your site for all device sizes. You won't have to design different versions of the same website for every device. It's an important Google ranking factor; the better the user experience, the better will be your rankings.

3. Create a Website That Loads Faster

Your website speed is of paramount importance for higher rankings and a better user experience. Therefore, you must remove all elements that can affect its loading time. You can use page speed insights to improve website performance.

4. Focus on Keyword Selection

Research and understand user intent to find the best keywords for mobile and desktop versions. Voice search keywords are also important for mobile users. Use it to see if it works for you.

Conclusion

When forecasting traffic for your SEO campaigns, you must also consider mobile CTRs and search volume. Mobile SEO can be vastly different, as a mobile user is more engaged than a desktop user because of factors such as urgency and accessibility.

However, mobile users are more reluctant to scroll down compared to desktop users. So, if you don't rank on the top spot and haven't optimized your website, you must implement mobile SEO. You should add more visual elements to a mobile site for greater visibility.

Furthermore, it's essential to optimize your mobile site for local SEO, as most searches made using mobile devices are local. Instead of creating and maintaining a separate mobile site, choose a mobile configuration first involving a responsive web design that Google recommends.