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Top 10 Biggest SEO Mistakes to Avoid – A Complete Guide by Shajee Fareedi

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most critical factors for online success. Whether you run a business website, an e-commerce store, or a blog, your visibility on search engines determines how many customers, readers, or clients find you. But while everyone wants to rank higher on Google, not everyone follows the right path. Many websites unintentionally commit SEO mistakes that harm their rankings instead of improving them.

As Shajee Fareedi – SEO Specialist & SEO Consultant in Pakistan, I’ve seen businesses spend time, money, and effort only to be disappointed because of basic errors. The good news? These mistakes can be avoided if you know what to look out for.

In this article, I’ll share the Top 10 SEO Mistakes I frequently encounter and explain how you can fix them to boost your visibility and achieve better results.

Why SEO Mistakes Matter

Google holds more than 85% of the search engine market share, which means ranking on Google almost automatically improves your performance on other search engines like Bing, Yahoo, or DuckDuckGo. If your SEO strategy is flawed, you risk:

  • Lower rankings on search results

  • Poor website traffic

  • Reduced conversions and sales

  • Wasted investment on content and ads

Let’s dive into the most common SEO mistakes and how to avoid them.

1. Duplicate Content

Duplicate content is one of the most damaging issues for SEO. This happens when the same or very similar text appears across multiple pages of your website (or worse, across multiple websites).

For example, an e-commerce store may copy-paste the same product description for dozens of items. Google doesn’t want to store duplicate information in its index, so it chooses one page and ignores the rest.

Why it’s bad:

  • Search engines get confused about which page to rank.

  • You lose the opportunity to rank multiple pages for different keywords.

  • It reduces the authority of your website.

Fix:

  • Write unique descriptions for every product, service, or page.

  • Use canonical tags if duplicate content is unavoidable (like for printer-friendly pages).

  • Audit your website with tools like Screaming Frog or Semrush to detect duplicates.

2. Thin Content or Too Little Text

Another common issue is websites with minimal content. Many business owners upload content copied from brochures or marketing flyers, forgetting that online readers and search engines expect detailed, informative text.

Why it’s bad:

  • Google prefers helpful, in-depth content.

  • Visitors won’t stay long on your website if the information is shallow.

  • Pages with little content rarely rank for competitive keywords.

Fix:

  • Expand your content to at least 800–1500 words where possible.

  • Add FAQs, product benefits, case studies, and comparisons.

  • Ensure your text is relevant to user intent and not just filler words.

3. Complex URLs and Poor Structure

Ever seen URLs like this?

example.com/index.php?cid=12&dl=764&action=showpage

Such URLs are confusing for both users and search engines.

Why it’s bad:

  • Hard to read and remember.

  • Lacks keywords that explain what the page is about.

  • Reduces click-through rate (CTR) from search results.

Fix:

Use SEO-friendly URLs like:

https://www.shajeefareedi.com/contact/

These are short, descriptive, and keyword-rich. Most content management systems (WordPress, Shopify, Magento) allow you to customize URLs. Always include relevant keywords instead of random numbers or symbols.

4. Poor Keyword Strategy

Keywords are the foundation of SEO. Many businesses either ignore keywords or stuff them unnaturally into the content.

Why it’s bad:

  • Without keywords, Google can’t understand your page.

  • Over-optimized content (keyword stuffing) is penalized.

  • Targeting irrelevant keywords brings the wrong audience.

Fix:

  • Research keywords using Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or Ubersuggest.

  • Focus on one primary keyword and a few secondary keywords per page.

  • Use keywords naturally in titles, headings, meta descriptions, and content.

5. Slow Website Load Times

Google emphasizes page speed as a ranking factor. If your site takes more than 3 seconds to load, most users leave before it even appears.

Why it’s bad:

  • High bounce rate.

  • Lower ranking on both desktop and mobile.

  • Frustrated visitors = lost sales.

Fix:

  • Optimize and compress images.

  • Use caching plugins (like WP Rocket for WordPress).

  • Consider a Content Delivery Network (CDN).

  • Regularly test your site speed on Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix.

6. Ignoring Technical SEO

Technical SEO ensures search engines can crawl and index your site. Many businesses overlook this, leaving issues like broken links, missing sitemaps, or incorrect robots.txt files.

Why it’s bad:

  • Google may struggle to crawl your site.

  • Important pages may not appear in search results.

  • Errors can waste your crawl budget.

Fix:

  • Create and submit an XML Sitemap to Google Search Console.

  • Use robots.txt correctly (don’t block important pages).

  • Fix broken links and redirects.

  • Run audits with Google Search Console or SEO tools.

7. Missing Image Optimization

Images are critical for user experience but are often uploaded without ALT tags or proper names.

Why it’s bad:

  • Google can’t “see” images, so untagged visuals don’t help SEO.

  • Missed opportunity to rank in Google Images.

  • Accessibility issues for visually impaired users.

Fix:

  • Add descriptive ALT text to every image.

  • Name images based on content (e.g., seo-consultant-pakistan.jpg instead of IMG1234.jpg).

  • Compress images to improve load speed.

8. Lack of External Backlinks

Backlinks are still one of Google’s most important ranking factors. Some businesses ignore link building, while others rely only on poor-quality links.

Why it’s bad:

  • No backlinks = no authority.

  • Weak or spammy backlinks can cause penalties.

Fix:

  • Build quality backlinks through guest posts, industry directories, and collaborations.

  • Create shareable content (guides, infographics, research).

  • Avoid buying links or joining link farms.

9. Poor Internal Linking

Internal links connect one page of your site to another. Many websites use generic anchor texts like “Read More”, which provide no SEO value.

Why it’s bad:

  • Google doesn’t understand the relationship between pages.

  • Missed opportunity to pass link equity.

  • Confusing navigation for users.

Fix:

  • Use descriptive anchor text with keywords.

  • Link related articles, product pages, and categories.

  • Create a clear hierarchy of content (pillar pages, supporting blogs).

10. Poor Internationalization

For multilingual websites, many businesses fail to structure content properly. They either mix languages on one domain or don’t use the right localization tags.

Why it’s bad:

  • Confuses users and search engines.

  • Can harm your rankings in international markets.

Fix:

  • Use separate domains or subdomains for each language (e.g., .fr for French).

  • Implement hreflang tags to help Google understand which page is for which region.

  • Translate content professionally – don’t just rely on Google Translate.

Final Thoughts

SEO success requires a strategic, long-term approach. While avoiding these 10 mistakes won’t guarantee instant rankings, it will set the foundation for sustainable growth.

As an SEO Specialist and SEO Consultant, I always emphasize the importance of:

  • Clear strategy and goal-setting

  • Continuous monitoring and optimization

  • Staying updated with Google’s algorithm changes

If you want professional help to rank your website higher on search engines, feel free to Contact Shajee Fareedi at [email protected].

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