Many businesses don’t fully grasp the impact of search engine optimization because it can take time to yield results. However, the biggest risk they could take is to ignore SEO altogether. Here are some SEO risks worth taking and others you should avoid from an SEO expert.
Risks Worth Taking
Make and test changes
The goal of SEO is to get your website to rank in the search results so people will click the link and go to your website. The more traffic your website gets, the more profit you can make from it. It is likely to take some trial and error to find out what works best to get you the most traffic. For example, you may have to experiment with using different keywords.
Use high-quality backlinks
Receiving good quality backlinks can help to establish authority and increase ranking. Providing links to other high-quality sites show search engines that you’re referencing reliable, authoritative sites. You will get penalized by search engines if you link to poor quality sites or have too many links to your site from such sites.
Use the right URL structure
A short, concise, URL that’s easy to remember is best. After you alter an old URL and 301 redirect traffic to a new one, you may initially see a dip in ranking and traffic. Doing it may be worth the risk, however, because a more streamlined URL could ultimately result in a better experience and higher rankings.
Update your website
After some time, a website may start to look outdated and need some updating. Making changes may affect your rankings and users for a short while. Rankings usually come up before long and users quickly become used to the changes, particularly if the changes improve their experience.
Risks not worth taking
Using doorway pages
Some people use doorway pages to target specific keywords and keyword groups because they are easy to create. Search engines do not like doorway pages and tend to penalize websites that use them.
Deleting pages
You may not think it’s a big deal to delete a page on your website, especially if it’s for a product you no longer sell. However, deleting the page also deletes keywords and other ranking factors. Consider rather leaving the page and redirecting visitors to another page with a similar product.
Condensing or merging pages
If you merge two pages into one, you will lose link juice and traffic if you don’t include 301 redirects on the old URLs.
Using exact match keywords in the anchor text
This practice was abused in the past by ‘black hat SEO’ and Google has cracked down on this practice. It’s better to look for more natural ways to link to your site.
Making too many SEO changes too often
Constantly fiddling with your website for SEO purposes is noticed by search engines and users. Google appreciates fresh, updated content but it doesn’t like the type of changes that interfere with a good user experience.