5 SEO Mistakes You’re Probably Making Right Now (And How To Fix Them)

If you want to succeed with SEO and score free traffic from Google you must read Rand’s article.

You did read it, right?

Now that you understand the basics, I’d like to cover five common SEO mistakes travel bloggers make and how to fix them.

#5. Not doing keyword research

Keyword research is simple: use the Google Keyword Tool to see what people are searching for (e.g. “best beaches in Southeast Asia”) then create valuable content about it (e.g. “The 7 Best Beaches in Southeast Asia for Backpackers”).

See how easy that is?

The trick is to do keyword research before you start.

BUT don’t just write about topics you find in Google. Create wacky, off the wall articles like “The Ultimate Guide to Lederhosen” or “7 Nude Beaches in Australia That Don’t Allow Old People” to keep your existing readers entertained.

It’s a balance, really. Create content that is entertaining AND informative. It will get you new readers and help keep your existing ones.

(Note: For the nuts-and-bolts of keyword research, read Rand’s article.)

#4. Not optimizing title tags

Title tags are the most important part of your site’s SEO (we’ll get to off-site SEO later). By having a keyword rich title you improve your chances of ranking for that term.

Let’s look at our previous example:

• Keyword: “best beaches in Southeast Asia”
• Article title: “The 7 Best Beaches in Southeast Asia for Backpackers”

See how the keyword is in the title? Simple, right? Yet so many bloggers miss this step… don’t let it happen to you!

#3. Failing to use a proper meta description

OK, this isn’t really an SEO tip… but it will get you more visitors from Google.

A “meta description” is where you tell the search engines what your page is about. And chances are, it’s what Google will display in the search results underneath your title.

For example:

Obviously, a well-written meta description can give you more Google traffic, so employ a little copywriting magic.

Include:

• A brief intro to what the page is about
• Relevant keywords
• What’s in it for the reader
• A strong call to action

Using our “Best Beaches in Southeast Asia” example from before, I would write a meta description like this:

Where are the best beaches in Southeast Asia? I’ve found ten incredible beaches no one knows about. See for yourself…

In this description we  use the keyword, included a benefit (“…no on knows about”) and a call to action (“see for yourself…”).

Pretty easy, huh?

There are many ways to edit your meta description. I suggest you use the Yoast SEO plugin, which lets you edit your title and meta description in WordPress.

It even gives you a snazzy preview of what it would look like in Google:

Then all you have to do is write the title and meta description underneath.

#2. Not linking to other pages on your site

If your readers like your post, they’ll want to read more. So make it easy for them by linking to other pages in your article.

For example, whenever I talk about headlines I always link to this post. Same thing for guest posting, Pinterest, and how travel bloggers can grow their traffic.

Links are how search engines travel through your site. So the more links you have on your page, the easier it is for them to get around.

Two other ways to include links are breadcrumbs and related posts. The Yoast plugin lets you automatically create breadcrumbs based on your site’s architecture. For example, if your article on Southeast Asia is in your Asia category, the breadcrumbs would look like this:

Home >> Asia >> Best Beaches in Southeast Asia

Both “Home” and “Asia” are links.

Related posts work well, too. Install Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) and it will automatically add a list of – you guessed it – related posts at the end of every article.

I use it on this site. You can see an example  at the bottom of this post.

And speaking of links…

#1. Not using appropriate anchor text

This is a biggie.

“Anchor text” is really just a fancy way of saying “the words you use in a link.”

So when you link to a page about “how to write faster” use “how to write fast” as the anchor text. Not “click here” or “check this out.”

Why? Because search engines use anchor text to figure out what your page is about. If you link with “how to write faster” they’ve got a pretty good idea what that’s about, right?

But “click here”? Not so much.

You’ll notice I don’t always follow this rule. That’s because it is good to mix things up. Don’t always use the same anchor text. It’s boring and search engines might think it’s spam.

So there you have it: five common SEO mistakes and how you can fix them. In the next lesson I’ve got something delicious planned. Frankly, it’s the most valuable thing I’ve offered yet… and it’s completely free.

More on that in the next lesson!

To your successful travel blog,

Adam Costa

Editor in Chief, Travel Blogger Academy

P.S. This is part of a 24 part course on travel blogging. If you haven’t already, sign up for it now.