Oliver NeelyIn a recent study looking at over 200 million pages across the web, leading SEO analysts Raven discovered the most common on-site SEO problems found by website owners.
The report spanned two years, analyzing millions of websites, looking at the common issues affecting their search ranking. Interestingly all of the problems are easily solvable, so if you’re one of these sites, we’re going to let you know exactly what you can do about it.
What are the most common on-site SEO problems?
1. Images with missing alt-tags
Search engines don’t understand images very well so to help them we use alt tags. An alt tag includes one or a couple of keywords that identify what the image is about. Furthermore alt tags in your images can help to confirm what the page content is about, increasing your relevancy & your SEO.
How to fix the problem?
The html to add an alt tag to an image looks like this:
If you use a content management system such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal or any kind of website creator, there should be an option to add Alt Text or an Alt Tag.
2. Images With Missing Title Attributes
Like the alt tag, the image title can also be used to describe the contents of an image.
How to fix the problem?
The html to add a title tag to an image looks like this:
<img src=”http://www.example.com/image.jpg” alt=”My Image” title=”My Title” />
3. Links With no Anchor Text
Anchor text helps to describe the contents of a page you are linking to, it acts like a small summary using one or two words. For example:
Anchor text can help to to increase the Search Engine Optimization of the page it is linking to.
The anchor text here is “Search Engine Optimization”.
How to fix the problem?
Always try to include anchor text when linking to other pages.
http://onlinemarketinginct.com/search-engine-optimization
This link for example does not constitute as anchor text.
4. Missing Meta Description
Meta descriptions are one of the only methods you have of standing out in the search results. If you don’t optimize your meta descriptions searchers could be confused by what you are offering.
How to fix the problem?
Always write a unique meta description for each page on your website. Include the keywords you want to target & keep it under 155 characters.
If your site uses WordPress install a plugin called SEO By Yoast, this will make it easier to assign each page and post with an SEO title & description.
5. Pages Have Duplicate Content
Although this is last on the list, it is one of the most important to get right. Google is very hot on duplicate content & only wants to promote the same page once. If your content is not unique your search rankings for those pages will suffer.
How to fix the problem?
Avoid using the same paragraph of content more than once, if possible. Don’t copy articles from other sites unless you re-write it in your own words. If you are unsure check your content to make sure it is unique.
Digital & Social Articles on Business 2 Community(140)
