The fact of the matter is that you may find that some SEO techniques work exceedingly well, bringing you and the client the best possible results, more so than you could have even anticipated. Then again, some techniques are failures before they even leave your mind. No matter how many times you try a certain strategy (and this can differ by situations and change easily with trends), it just won`t work. The advice for the latter is pretty simple: do something different. Throw that technique away, or shelve it as an SEO memorial of days gone by, and move on to something else. This is often a problem that you will run into and one that you must learn to deal with, for the health and wealth of your client.

Unfortunately for some, the strategy known as Reciprocal linking fits into this latter category. The practice of `swapping off` links to other`s pages in an effort to boost traffic and bring in more bang for the buck simply is an archaic method and needs to be let go. Put the High School track trophy into another room, and place this strategy on the top shelf of your study`s bookcase. It is old news. And it will back fire on you more times than it helps you. This is due to the fact that searchers who you use your links are really using you to cross-connect – to get somewhere else other than your page. They don`t and won`t stay long enough to look around and possibly buy. So don`t waste your or their time.

Now, a warning must be given: don`t turn a deaf ear to this; please listen. The temptation for those who are used to this strategy is to stop up their ears, turn the music up louder and pretend that you don`t hear me. If you do that, you won`t be listening or receiving the information that can (and will) give you the edge that you are looking for. Look, if I have said once, I have said it a 1000 times. The world of SEO is not a solid rock on which we all stand and bask in the sunlight. More times than not it feels more like sinking sand. To avoid losing your footing and to stay upright, you will have to be flexible. Don`t make things worse off or more complicated for yourself by sticking to what you think worked in the past. It`s just not that simple anymore.

Making use of a splash page
The first page of any web site is the most significant page. That’s number one, and search engines normally run through it. If a person uses the first page to place a beautiful picture then it results in a SEO disaster. Search engines do not consider splash pages including human users; they get annoyed if they have to click again to view the web site content. Avoid splash pages if at all possible. If you MUST have a pretty page, then please stop reading this article.

Placing a text as an image
Web designers want to produce a pretty web page that contains the text and images together so that it appears like a standard web page. That’s called typography, all well and good if you are doing a term paper or designing a logo for a project but when you are doing a web page try to avoid non clickable pictures. I have actually seen Web designers render their whole page as a gif or jpg image. Though it appears good to the viewer, the SEO engine will not locate any searchable text. Another point please, avoid changing web pages vital headlines into images.

Not placing the description tags and title on the pages
Certain web pages display the words “new page” at the top. This occurs when the web site owner forgets to place the title tag on the web page. The SEO engines regard the title tag that is present in the head segment of the page as a very crucial indicator. If a person leaves the title tag out or does not give it any text then guess what so will the search engines. It won’t give this page much significance then that person is wasting an excellent SEO opportunity.

Additional SEO mistakes

1. Placing the same description tags and title on every page
Each web page is unique and has a particular function. A person has to let the SEO engine and the users be aware of this, by changing the description tags and the title to adhere to the content on that specific web page. It is a little difficult to optimize a single page for several varied search terms but it is easy to optimize each of the web site pages for one or two crucial search phrases.

2. Using a brochure site
A person can maintain the owned web site with top position by providing a good amount of high-quality content. The SEO engine will not give importance to pages containing a general description about something bland. A person has to make the owned web site a valuable resource so that SEO engines and site visitors will soon recognize that web site as a reliable source of information. These are only a few SEO common mistakes. There are plenty more which I will discuss in another article.

Now I know every one of us have been caught doing some of the things I have mentioned. I would love to hear from you, the reader. Please let us know what are some of you most recent mistakes.