Every website owner wants to get to the top of Google. A first page ranking is highly coverted, and the number one position is to die for, and to achieve this they need to focus on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). But many folks who get into internet marketing make a lot of mistakes, and insteading of rising in the rankings, they tank to obscurity. Their intentions are good but certain glaring mistakes torpedo all their efforts.  Here are some of them.

Focusing On The Wrong Keywords
When using keywords people need to make sure they are relevant to whatever it is they are providing or selling.  Sounds simple, but you’d be surprised how many folks use keywords that have nothing at all to do with what they’re about. Figure out what your customers are using to find you, and focus on those keywords. Google’s Keyword Tool helps, alot!

Keyword Stuffing
This is a sure way to wind up on Google’s bad side. Using those newly found keywords, and then stuffing them over and over on to a web page is a very bad idea. It not only makes the content virtually unreadable to your users, but looks spammy to search engines. This could lead to dropping in the rankings and even being de-indexed completely. Be careful of keyword density.

No Alt Tags
Believe it or not, many folks surfing the internet have their internet browsers set to ‘text only’, meaning no images show at all. In these cases, the Alt Tags of the images show instead of the images themselves. For this reason, it is of the utmost importance that a website owner always has Alt Tags assigned to images on their site so they are visible to everyone. Search Engines also can’t see images, so they use they Alt Tags to categorise what each image is.

Duplicate Or Short Page Titles
This is pretty much self-explanatory. Search Engines, like Google, Yahoo, and Bing for example, place quite a lot of importance in the Page Titles of each web page. It’s kind of a Sign, a Title actually, to advise what the web page is about. Therefore, each and every page needs to have unique and detailed Page Titles. Page Titles that are duplicates, or too short, are essentially penalised.

Using Flash
Flash is on the way out. That may seem controversial to some, but it’s a matter of being realistic. Apple famously refuses to use flash on any of their devices including iPhones, iPads and their Mac range. Further, HTML5 is all the rage now and is the new way to provide feature rich applications. Not to mention, Search Engines can not see Flash – simple as that. The more flash you have on your website, the more search engines can’t see your content. Imagine an entire website made with Flash – it shows as virtually empty to search engines.

The best advice for website owners who are hoping to be successful with their SEO efforts is to sign up with a web hosting company that helps out with more than just hosting issues.  Many web hosting companies here in Australia can assist site owners with all aspects of internet marketing, especially Search Engine Optimisation.  When screening web hosting providers make sure they offer these additional amenities.