Top SEO Mistakes To Avoid In 2017

2017 is off and running, hard to believe we're a month in already at this point. You set some hefty goals of improving your SEO rankings for this year and are grinding away at the work daily, or at least you did for the first 3 weeks. This post will look at top mistakes you need to avoid this year in order to keep ranking well.

Top SEO Mistakes to Avoid This Year

By Chad Blenkin

1. Content isn't King.

Thinking your witty content will rank without any optimization is just foolish. Content marketing is great, works great in conjunction with a full-scale SEO strategy, however, content on its own will not get you to the holy grail of page #1 rankings. Key here is content marketing isn't a substitution for SEO, it is complementary.

There will always be examples of amazing content that ranks without optimization. However, that's the exception and not the rule.

2. Awesome content builds links naturally.

See this time and time again from many bloggers, or noobs, who think awesome content will generate links once posted to a few social media sites. It's possible to hit a viral link campaign here and there, but consistently doing so without having a built up brand is very unlikely.

However, more often this strategy (or lack of a strategy) will result in 90% of your content sitting stagnant on your site.

To build links, you need to develop an outreach program and work it daily. The hard work will pay off, though.

3. Guest posting without first investigating the site(s).

Guest posting is a popular way to build backlinks. However, posting on the wrong site can damage your reputation and rankings.

Before reaching out to a host blog (or responding to a guest blogging request), be sure to do your due diligence on the site. Ask yourself: Does this site's audience match up with my own target market? Do they typically publish unique, high-quality content? Do they seem trustworthy given their Domain Authority, link profile, and online ratings and reviews?

4. Not intentionally promoting your content

Promotion and distribution are key to giving your content that initial burst of attention and engagement. Without it, your content is likely to sit unread, gathering few shares or links.

According to research from Moz over half of all online content sampled had 2 or less Facebook interactions, and 75% had no external links. I'm willing to bet this was largely due to a lack of intentional distribution.

About Chad Blenkin

Chad Blenkin is a very experienced entrepreneur, marketer, strategist, growth hacker and startup guy. Chad has over 15 years experience working with companies in the areas of strategy, sales, and marketing (digital and traditional).

Currently, Chad is working on a new startup that is soft launching in the first quarter of 2017, based out of Vancouver, British Columbia.