SEO Mistakes: Common SEO Issues & How to Fix Them

SEO mistakes—whether they’re method SEO issues oregon on-page SEO missteps—can wounded your quality to fertile connected Google. 

As you tin spot successful the graph below, click-through complaint (CTR) drastically decreases arsenic you determination distant from the archetypal presumption successful Google’s integrated hunt results.

So, thing that hurts your quality to assertion that apical spot tin pb to a immense nonaccomplishment successful idiosyncratic engagement and profits. 

The atrocious quality is that SEO mistakes are incredibly common. And you whitethorn not adjacent recognize they’re plaguing your site. 

But the bully quality is that astir SEO issues are wholly avoidable and fixable. 

Here’s however to hole communal SEO issues that whitethorn beryllium keeping your webpages from ranking No. 1 connected Google. 

Technical SEO Issues to Avoid

Technical SEO is the process of optimizing your website to fertile connected Google done non-user-facing techniques. Like optimizing site speed, sitemaps, and different backend features. 

This broadside of SEO is indispensable if you privation to rank astatine the apical of Google. But method SEO issues tin beryllium casual to miss—and hugely detrimental. 

Here are immoderate communal method SEO issues and however to halt them from damaging your site’s performance. 

Duplicate Content

Duplicate content refers to a leafage connected your website with the aforesaid contented arsenic different page. This whitethorn mean it’s an nonstop copy. Or shares astir of the aforesaid contented with immoderate variations. 

Think of templated pages with a fewer words changed. Or a U.S. and a U.K. mentation of the aforesaid page.

Having duplicate contented is an SEO issue. Not handling it correctly tin person antagonistic consequences, like:

• Causing the incorrect mentation of a leafage to amusement up successful the search motor results pages (SERPs)
• Creating issues with the indexing of your website
• Poor oregon chaotic leafage rankings

These are each superior problems that tin pb to immense losses successful traffic. 

How to Fix Duplicate Content

The archetypal measurement to fixing duplicate contented is uncovering it. 

To find duplicate contented connected your site, unfastened Semrush’s Site Audit instrumentality and participate your domain.

Configure your settings and click “Start Site Audit.”

Once your audit is complete, click connected the “Issues” tab. 

Enter “duplicate content” successful the hunt barroom successful the precocious left. 

Here, you’ll spot an mistake connection alerting you to duplicate contented issues connected your site. To larn much astir the problem, click “Why and however to hole it.”

Possible solutions to your duplicate contented issues include:

• Adding unsocial contented to 1 of the duplicate pages
• Adding a rel="canonical" nexus to 1 of your duplicate pages to archer hunt engines which leafage to amusement successful the SERP 
• Using a 301 redirect from a duplicate leafage to the archetypal one

For a much elaborate breakdown of erstwhile and however to code duplicate contented issues, work our duplicate contented guide.

Meta tags are snippets of HTML codification that springiness users and hunt motor crawlers much accusation astir your website. Under-optimized meta tags are missed opportunities to amended your site’s performance. And tin impact the mode Google oregon a imaginable idiosyncratic interprets your page. 

Two communal examples of these tags are rubric tags and meta statement tags. 

Title tags assistance found however the rubric of a webpage shows up successful the SERP and connected a browser tab. Like this:

Meta description tags tin power the little statement displayed beneath a page’s rubric and URL successful the SERP (although Google has said it astir often does not usage the meta statement to find this snippet).

These 2 tags tin assistance Google link your leafage to a applicable hunt a idiosyncratic makes. And past assistance a idiosyncratic determine whether your leafage is worthy clicking connected erstwhile they’re browsing the hunt results. 

Along with the rubric tags and meta statement tags, you can—and should—optimize different tags, similar H1 tags (which service arsenic a benignant of on-page rubric of a webpage) and alt text (which details the contented of images for surface readers and crawlers). 

Common causes of meta tag under-optimization include:

• Missing tags 
• Tags that are excessively agelong oregon excessively short
• Duplicate tags

How to Fix Under-Optimized Meta Tags

To find whether you person missing oregon duplicate tags, spell backmost to Site Audit and unfastened your report. 

Click connected the “Issues” tab and hunt for the word “tag.”

If you person missing oregon duplicate tags, you tin easy hole the occupation by adding tags wherever needed oregon altering duplicates to beryllium original. 

To debar communal meta tag issues, optimize them from the beginning. For example, a page’s rubric tag and meta statement should:

• Contain the people keyword 
• Be unsocial to that page
• Summarize what a idiosyncratic tin expect to find connected the page
• Be applicable to the intent down the people keyword

Image Issues 

Optimizing images connected your site tin assistance you fertile connected Google Images, amended your site’s accessibility, and heighten the idiosyncratic acquisition (UX). On the different hand, having representation issues tin wounded the idiosyncratic experience, dilatory down your site, and little your quality to rank.

Common SEO representation issues include:

• Lack of alt text: Alt substance tags are attached to an representation and explicate what the representation is showing. These tags let surface speechmaking bundle to archer users who whitethorn beryllium incapable to spot the representation what the representation depicts. And supply further representation discourse for hunt motor crawlers.
• Oversized images: Oversized images tin dilatory down your site’s leafage speed—a proven Google ranking factor 
• Broken images: Broken images are images connected your tract that can’t beryllium displayed due to the fact that the representation nary longer exists, the URL is missing oregon incorrect, oregon the record way is invalid. Broken images severely undermine the idiosyncratic acquisition and awesome a poor-quality webpage.

How to Fix Image Issues

Let’s interruption down however to hole oregon debar each of the astir communal SEO representation issues:

Lack of Alt Text

This one’s easy. Just similar fixing different meta tag issues, usage Site Audit to find missing oregon duplicate alt substance tags. Then, adhd oregon regenerate those tags.

Moving forward, delegate alt substance to each representation you people connected your site. Best practices for alt substance see being descriptive, unique, and earthy (that is, don’t effort to worldly successful keywords). 

Oversized Images

To optimize representation size for SEO, you privation to get your representation record size arsenic tiny arsenic imaginable without compromising the image’s quality. 

One effectual mode to bash this is by compressing your images. Start by resizing your representation utilizing a escaped instrumentality similar PicResize. 

Then, you tin usage a instrumentality similar ImageOptim, oregon the WordPress plugin Smush, to further shrink your representation without sacrificing its quality. 

Broken Images

To find breached images connected your site, spell backmost to the “Issues” tab successful your Site Audit report. Search “image” to find notices astir breached images.

Once you’ve recovered the breached images, determination are a fewer ways you tin hole them, specified as:

• Changing the representation URL
• Replacing the image
• Simply removing it from the page

Slow Load Speed

Load speed (also called “page speed”) measures however rapidly your webpage’s contented loads. It’s a confirmed Google ranking factor.

Along with being a ranking factor, leafage velocity affects however apt a idiosyncratic is to prosecute with your site. 

Users are overmuch much apt to bounce from a leafage (i.e., click backmost to the SERPs quickly) that takes a agelong clip to load. 

Even if a idiosyncratic doesn’t bounce from your page, dilatory leafage velocity creates a frustrating idiosyncratic experience. And tin little your quality to fertile good connected Google. 

How to Fix Slow Load Speed

To hole your load speed, unfastened your Site Audit report. 

Scroll down to “Thematic Reports.” Locate the “Site Performance” box. And click connected “View details.” 

This study volition item issues with your website’s load velocity and performance. 

Prioritize fixing thing listed arsenic an “Error.” Then, absorption connected “Warnings” and “Notices.”

Some communal solutions for resolving dilatory load velocity include:

• Compressing your images
• Optimizing your HTML code 
• Moving to a antithetic hosting work (if the occupation is coming from your web server)
• Minimizing your files oregon codification done minification
• Enabling browser caching 

As always, you tin find much accusation astir fixing your load velocity issues straight successful your Site Audit report. 

Poor Crawlability 

Before serving up a webpage successful the hunt results, Google archetypal has to crawl and scale that page. 

If Google bots are incapable to crawl your webpages, they can’t beryllium indexed. And they can’t beryllium displayed successful the hunt results. Meaning the leafage is losing retired connected invaluable traffic. 

Bad crawlability tin beryllium the effect of antithetic SEO issues, including:

• Pages blocked successful a robots.txt file
• Link issues (like breached links, nofollow links, and deficiency of internal links)
• Unindexed pages
• Redirect loops (when Page A redirects to Page B, which redirects backmost to Page A, and truthful on)
• 4xx errors (a leafage cannot beryllium accessed)
• 5xx errors (a server cannot execute a request)
• Poor tract architecture 

How to Fix Poor Crawlability

Crawlability issues are immoderate of the easiest to miss. But they tin beryllium the astir harmful, arsenic they artifact hunt motor crawlers from decently accessing your pages.

Go to your Site Audit study and scroll down to “Thematic Reports.” Here, you’ll spot your site’s “Crawlability” score. Click connected “View details” nether your score. 

This study shows your site’s indexability. And wherever crawl budget is being wasted.

You tin besides click implicit to the “Issues” tab to spot a breakdown of errors affecting your site. Many tract errors will, successful turn, impact your website’s crawlability. 

Usually, these problems are casual to fix. And you tin forestall them going guardant by implementing champion practices. Like maintaining sitemaps, optimizing your site architecture, and embracing an interior linking strategy.

Lack of Mobile Optimization

The majority of Google searches are made connected mobile. And Google prioritizes mobile pages. 

So, failing to optimize your website for the mobile acquisition tin beryllium a immense SEO mistake. 

There are 3 superior methods of making a tract mobile-friendly: 

• Responsive design: This allows you to service the aforesaid leafage to a desktop oregon mobile user. The nexus stays the same, but the leafage displays otherwise depending connected the device.

• Dynamic serving: The URL stays the same, but the HTML changes based connected the device

• Separate URLs: Or you tin person antithetic URLs for your desktop and mobile sites (generally not recommended) 

How to Fix a Lack of Mobile Optimization

First, you’ll request to found a mobile-friendly tract utilizing 1 of the methods mentioned above. 

But your mobile efforts shouldn’t extremity there. 

As the mobile acquisition is truthful important—to users and Google alike—optimizing your tract for mobile tin amended your hunt rankings and the idiosyncratic experience. 

To place method issues with your site’s mobile performance, unfastened your Site Audit study and click connected the “Issues” tab. 

Then, bash a hunt for the word “mobile.”

Here, you’ll find issues relating to mobile performance, similar problems concerning Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).

There are besides non-technical ways to optimize your mobile site. Like:

• Writing shorter paragraphs (for enhanced mobile readability)
• Using achromatic space
• Avoiding intrusive pop-ups
• Optimizing rubric tags and meta descriptions for mobile search

Common On-Page SEO Mistakes 

On-page SEO is the process of optimizing the user-facing elements of a webpage to fertile higher connected Google. It addresses components similar your contented structure, interior links, and keywords. 

Making mistakes with your on-page SEO tin pb to a mediocre idiosyncratic experience. Which can, successful turn, pb to atrocious hunt rankings. 

To support your site’s on-page contented SEO-friendly, debar oregon hole these communal issues. 

Low-Quality Content

Search algorithms are designed to present the champion contented to users. So naturally, low-quality contented is improbable to fertile good connected Google.

Plus, it tin pb to mediocre idiosyncratic engagement, atrocious conversion rates, and diminished marque reputation. Making low-quality contented an all-around gut punch to your SEO efforts.

You whitethorn person published low-quality contented intentionally by cutting corners to prevention clip and money. Like utilizing AI penning bundle and not editing oregon fact-checking the results. 

Or you whitethorn person unintentionally published low-quality content. 

Like pages with outdated accusation and grammatical errors. Or pages that don’t lucifer the user’s intent for the hunt query that led them to your page. 

It’s besides imaginable that your erstwhile high-quality contented is present considered low-quality due to the fact that it doesn’t conscionable caller E-E-A-T and YMYL standards.

E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness,and Trustworthiness. 

It’s particularly important successful pages discussing “Your Money oregon Your Life” (YMYL) topics, which person the powerfulness to interaction a person’s livelihood.

Like different aspects of SEO, what’s considered high-quality content is perpetually changing based connected evolving hunt algorithms and idiosyncratic needs. 

How to Fix Low-Quality Content

The evident solution to low-quality contented is to nutrient high-quality contented instead. High-quality contented is:

• Accurate
• Relevant
• Readable
• Useful
• Grammatically correct
• Credible (has beardown E-E-A-T)

Most importantly, high-quality contented matches users’ search intent. Meaning it gives searchers what they intended to find erstwhile they Googled the keyword your webpage is ranking for (or hoping to fertile for).

To uncover optimization opportunities for your on-page efforts, spell to Semrush’s On Page SEO Checker and commencement a caller project.

Enter your website’s URL and click “Get ideas.”

Select your people determination and click “Continue.”

You tin manually adhd pages you privation to optimize, upload a CSV file, oregon link Google Search Console. Or you tin enactment connected the “Auto Import” enactment to person the instrumentality cod your 50 highest-ranking pages. 

Then, click “Collect ideas” to make your on-page SEO report. 

This study shows you ideas for improving your on-page SEO done strategy, content, backlinks, SERP features, and more. 

Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing is the signifier of utilizing keywords unnaturally successful your content. The thought is to fertile higher for those keywords. But instead, it makes your contented hard to work and tin nonstop antagonistic signals to Google.

It tin adjacent effect successful a Google penalty. Meaning immoderate oregon each of your webpages tin beryllium removed from hunt results.

Like different practices that Google penalizes, it’s seen arsenic an effort to manipulate the hunt algorithm.

So, jamming a people keyword into a leafage implicit and implicit again won’t assistance you improve your website rankings. It tin adjacent wounded them. 

How to Fix Keyword Stuffing

Use keywords naturally. 

Optimizing a leafage for keywords should ne'er mean sacrificing naturalness successful an effort to play the hunt algorithm. Instead, absorption connected choosing the close keywords, however you usage them, and however it each contributes to the idiosyncratic experience.

For example, your people keyword should look successful your page’s:

• Title
• Meta description
• Opening paragraph
• Body (when it people comes up)
• Alt tags
• Headers (some, not all)

If your people keyword doesn’t dependable earthy successful the assemblage of your content, don’t beryllium acrophobic to usage a variation. 

For example, the keyword “how to cook a barroom gluten free” doesn’t marque consciousness precisely as-is successful a paragraph. But thing similar “How to cook a gluten-free barroom …” sounds earthy and inactive conveys the meaning of the people keyword.

Keyword Cannibalization

Keyword cannibalization (or “SEO cannibalization”) is erstwhile you person a leafage connected your website targeting the aforesaid keyword arsenic different page. 

As aggregate pages are competing for the aforesaid keywords, some of their rankings suffer.

Keyword cannibalization tin hap erstwhile you person duplicate content. Or if you’ve published akin contented implicit time. It tin adjacent beryllium caused by subcategory pages that aren’t chiseled capable from their genitor pages. 

How to Fix Keyword Cannibalization

Avoid keyword cannibalization by researching the hunt intent down keywords you take to target. Create unsocial contented that serves a chiseled purpose. Or travel champion practices for handling duplicate contented (if that’s the root of the problem). 

To uncover keyword cannibalization you whitethorn not cognize exists connected your site, spell to Semrush’s Position Tracking tool. Enter your domain and click “Set up tracking.”

Enter your people location, past click “Continue To Keywords.”

Next, manually participate keywords you’re disquieted about. Or import keywords from Google Analytics. 

After you adhd keywords, click “Start Tracking.”

When your study is ready, click implicit to the “Cannibalization” tab to presumption a study of pages and keywords that are perchance being cannibalized. 

If the study reveals pages that are competing for keywords with the aforesaid intent, take a leafage to favor. From here, you tin usage redirects oregon canonical tags to bespeak the “true” leafage for that keyword. Or you tin opt for contented instauration oregon optimization to fulfill unsocial keyword opportunities. 

Over-Optimized Anchor Text

Anchor substance is the clickable substance that links to different webpage. 

Like this:

Optimized anchor text tin assistance your SEO efforts. And amended a user’s acquisition connected your page. 

However, over-optimized anchor substance tin wounded your efforts. And adjacent beryllium seen arsenic a malicious effort to manipulate the Google hunt algorithm. 

Here’s an illustration of over-optimized anchor substance straight from Google:

This anchor substance over-optimization is done successful an effort to subordinate that leafage with that keyword, frankincense ranking higher for it connected Google. 

The contented is that this is astatine the disbursal of the idiosyncratic experience. These affluent anchor texts aren’t descriptive enough. Meaning users aren’t wide what the leafage connected the different broadside of the anchor substance is about. And Google doesn’t similar that.

How to Fix Over-Optimized Anchor Text

You’ll people debar over-optimized anchor substance if you travel anchor substance champion practices, similar being:

• Natural 
• Descriptive
• Concise

In its guidelines connected champion linking practices, Google says:

Try speechmaking lone the anchor substance (out of context) and cheque if it's circumstantial capable to marque consciousness by itself. If you don't cognize what the leafage could beryllium about, you request much descriptive anchor text.

Keep successful caput that Google tries to reward websites that prioritize the idiosyncratic experience. So ever see however your users volition work and construe anchor text. Rather than however a hunt motor crawler will. 

Don’t Let SEO Issues Slow You Down

So present you’ve fixed your method SEO issues. Or taken steps to debar communal on-page SEO mistakes. 

But the happening astir SEO problems is that determination are always more. 

Your website is perpetually changing. So are hunt engines. With each evolution, there’s country to improve. 

And country to messiness up. 

Even the champion websites connected the net volition look SEO issues (ones they whitethorn not adjacent cognize exist) and neglect to clasp SEO champion practices 100% of the time.

To cheque for SEO issues—and support tiny problems from turning into large ones—use Site Audit to regularly audit your website and hole problems earlier they spiral retired of control.