Search Marketing Blog
Avoid the Top 5 Mistakes that Lose Great Ranks
More than likely, you are well aware that prominently positioned Natural search listings are highly coveted assets. Search engine users routinely report that the companies found in the top Natural search listings are perceived to be leaders in their industry. Once you have achieved highly ranked listings within major Natural search engines, the last thing you want to do is lose these valuable assets. Here are the top five mistakes that you will want to avoid to ensure that you maintain your hard-fought positions within relevant Natural search results.
1. Barriers to Entry.
Unknowingly present search engine algorithms with obstacles that prevent your site, and all of its content, from being spidered and ultimately indexed within relevant search results. These barriers to entry include the lack of a site map, improper structured robots.txt file, inaccessible HTML mark-up, and poor navigation issues.
2. Site Element Changes
Make changes to crucial elements on your site, such as URL structure and HTML code design, without taking into consideration how it will affect the accessibility for search algorithms. Always remember that the most elaborate site on the Web isn’t worth the code it is written in, if no one can find it. So, make sure that your site enhancements appeal to both visitors and search spiders.
3. Missing 301 Redirects
Once you have made changes to elements on your site (e.g., new optimized URLs), leave-out the important step of including 301 redirects for the former URLs to your new URLs. Prominently positioned listings that you have achieved for your former pages will fall away without proper 301 redirects to your new pages.
4. Inconsistent Updates
Once your pages have achieve prominent positioning within relevant search listings, assume that you will maintain your positions without continuously enhancing and optimizing page design and content. Complacency kills within search engines. Your competitors are always attempting to have their site be found ahead of your site. You need to continuously update your optimization elements and efforts.
5. Illegitimate Efforts
Employ questionable practices on your site that fly in the face of search engine best practices, rules, and regulations. Nothing will drop your great ranks faster than trying to spoof your way to the top. It’s better to provide visitors and search engine algorithms with exactly what they are looking for, rather than attempting to maintain positioning through a deceptive practice.
You have safeguards in place to prevent the valuable assets of your company from becoming damaged, lost, or stolen. It’s important to maintain the same attention to protection for your highly ranked Natural search listings.
Karen Andre 05.18.2007 at 1:56 pm
Any Search Engineer worth her salt knows that the key to a highly effective Natural Search campaign begins with highly relevant (and searched for) key terms.