SEO is essential for any local wellness business that wants the patronage of the folks in their immediate vicinity. It’s literally what puts you on the map…Google Maps, that is. It’s the one way to get continuous business without paying per click.
SEO works because Google and other search engines “crawl” through your site on a fairly regular basis and see what content is up there and how your code is configured.
If you don’t want to fail at SEO, read on and learn which practices you should avoid.
Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is the practice of overusing or repeating the same keywords or phrases in your content. Keyword stuffing may seem like a good way to rank higher for your target keywords, but it actually has the opposite effect. Keyword stuffing makes your content look unnatural and spammy. It can also trigger a penalty from Google that can lower your rankings or even remove your site altogether.
Duplicate Content
Duplicate content refers to text that appears exactly the same on more than one page of your site. It also refers to text that is exactly the same as another site. Duplicate content can confuse the search engines and the users about which page is the original and authoritative source of information. If you have an old page that you want to update you can redirect your URL by using a techie little trick called 301 redirects. No matter what platform your website is on there is always a way to redirect an old page – just Google it.
Broken Links
Broken links refer to links on your site that don’t lead to a live page. I’m sure you’ve seen that dreaded 404 error page before; that’s because of a broken link. Broken links can harm your SEO in several ways. They can frustrate your users which can lead them to leave your site (this sends a negative signal to Google). It also affects your link authority and trustworthiness because linking is the backbone of the way much of the internet works, and there is an unspoken honor system about links being used correctly. To fix broken links, you should regularly audit your site using tools like Google Search Console and update or remove any broken links that you find.
Slow Loading Speed
Load speed is one of the ranking factors that Google uses to evaluate your site’s user experience. Load speed can have a negative impact on visitors achieving your website goals, eg. such as booking an appointment or joining a class. Studies have shown that users tend to abandon a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load. To speed up your site you should optimize your images, videos, and other media files. If you have a developer on your team, ask them how you can implement a caching system, and a content delivery network (CDN), and minify your code (they’ll know what you mean😉).
Black Hat Techniques
Black hat techniques are unethical and deceptive methods that many SEO companies use to make their clients believe they are ranking high. They manipulate search engines in an effort to out-rank competitors. Some of the common black hat techniques include cloaking, hidden text, doorway pages, link farms, and spam comments. Black hat techniques may work in the short term, but they can really get you into trouble if and when you’re caught.
Wellness brands are guided by higher values and should be on guard when it comes to working with SEO companies that use black hat methods.
