Five Great Ways to Destroy Your SEO EffortFiled in Search Engine Optimization on April 6, 2011 
I know you’ve been dying to find an article like this.
Maybe you were searching for “What Makes an SEO Company Great?” Or another churned out DIY SEO guide. I mean, everyone has one right? Feel free to answer that later.
Today, it’s time to take a different approach: What are some of the best ways to completely wipe out your SEO efforts?
The following five examples are some of the most common ways SEM’s and amateur digital marketers veer off course:
#1 – Not caring about content
Old and out of date content is a great way to reverse hard earned SEO results. Despite how great the last 17 articles are, it’s important to keep fresh and updated content. Your visitors will not only reward you, search engines will keep indexing and visiting your site.
Many times SEM’s hyper focus on tangible SEO techniques like custom URL’s or link building. Yes, these are important. But as the saying goes, dance with the one who brung you: content.
#2 – Content is great, but don’t ignore URL’s
Talk about a nice segue huh? If you’re not using WordPress or some type of content management system that dynamically creates SEO friendly URL’s, it’s time to make the investment. Surprisingly, this tip is commonly overlooked. You’ve created great content, built out all the right pages, but SE’s need to be able to find the goods. Don’t believe me? Look at the search listings next time you Google something. Google places a high premium on URL keywords.
#3 – Excessive, compulsive, repetitive, continuous, never ending. . . keyword stuffing.
You get the point. Even though you should definitely keep keyword density in mind (2-5% is recommend) thinking that readers want to see the same terms over and over again is ludicrous. Rest assured your SEO campaign will quickly disintegrate if you choose this option.
#4 – What exactly are you optimizing?
Yes, having a keyword and content optimization plan is good, but even more important is knowing what you’re optimizing for. If you’re plan is to sell bicycle tires, don’t spend too much time talking about Lance Armstrong’s doping allegations. That might be a little bit of a stretch, yet surprisingly, not uncommon. Nail down which root keywords, and long tail phrases relate best to your product, and develop content accordingly. Not doing so won’t directly destroy your SEO plan. But don’t expect to see good results.
#5 – Better late than never, but don’t wait too long.
There’s an on-going lie out there among many who believe in developing SEO plans after a website is built. I couldn’t’ disagree more. That’s like putting gas in the car after the trip. (Don’t ask how that’s possible, just go with it.)
Wouldn’t you want SEO to play a large role in site development? I would think so. All of the above tips should go hand in hand with web design and structure. SEO is so much more than content and back links. This might sound like a contradiction to our “content is Kkng mantra’ Don’t worry, the throne is still intact. However, the Kingdom can’t survive without a moat (aka your SEO strategy.)