Top 10 SEO mistakes made by SEO specialists

1. Ignoring the title tag

Leaving the title tag empty is very common. This is one of the most important places to have a keyword, because not only does it help you in optimisation but the text in your title tag shows in the search results as your page title and this makes your title more relevant.

2. Concentrating too much on meta tags

A lot of people seem to think SEO is about getting your meta keywords and description correct. In fact, meta tags are becoming (if not already) a thing of the past. However, it is good practice to include them as smaller search engines still use them. You can create your meta keywords and descriptions but don't except to rank well only using these elements.

3. Ignoring URLs

Many people underestimate how important a good URL is. Dynamic page names are still very frequent and not having keywords in the URL is no exception to the rule. Yes, it is possible to rank high even without keywords in the URL but all being equal - if you have keywords in the URL (the domain itself, or file names, which are part of the URL), this gives you additional advantage over your competitors. Keywords in URLs are more important for Bing and Yahoo! but even with Google their relative weight is high, so there is no excuse for having 'keywordless' URLs.

4. Using only images for headings

Many people think that an image looks better than text for headings and menus. Yes, an image can make your site look more distinctive but in terms of SEO, images for headings and menus are a big mistake. Certain HTML tags such as the h1, h2 and menu links are important SEO items. If you choose to use images, then having alt tags is a must.

5. A Flash website without an html alternative

Flash might be attractive but not to search engines and users. If you really insist that your site is Flash-based and you want search engines to love it, then simply provide an html version. Search engines don't like Flash sites for a reason - a spider struggles to read Flash content and therefore also struggles to index it. However, there are certain techniques used to leverage of some content from a Flash website; but this still does not compare to having an HTML website with Flash elements.

6. JavaScript menus

Using JavaScript for navigation is not bad as long as you understand that search engines do not read JavaScript and build your webpages accordingly. So if you have JavaScript menus you can't do without, you should consider building a sitemap (or putting the links in a noscript tag) so that all your links will be crawl-able. The same applies for AJAX menus.

7. Targeting the wrong keywords

This is a huge mistake many people make and what's worse - even experienced SEO specialists make it. People choose keywords that in their minds are descriptive of their website but the average user just may not search them. For instance, if you have a relationship site, you might discover that "relationship guide" does not work for you, even though it has the "relationship" keyword, while "dating advice" works like a charm. Choosing the right keywords can make or break your SEO campaign.

8. Lack of keywords in the content

Once you focus on your keywords, modify your content and put the keywords wherever it makes sense. Search engines love it when you make them bold or highlight them.

9. Link building / Backlink spamming

It is a common delusion that more backlinks are always better and because of this, webmasters resort to link farms, forum/newsgroup spam etc., which ultimately could lead to having their site banned. In fact, what you need are quality backlinks. Acquire links from high traffic websites that are specific to your niche' market or industry.

10. Lack of consistency and maintenance

I often used to encounter clients, who believe that once you optimise a site, it is done forever. If you want to be successful, you need to permanently optimise your site, keep an eye on the competition and changes in the ranking algorithms of search engines. Also analyse website trends, and gather insights from your websites web matrix or analytics.