5. Repetitive page titles and meta tags - (See note above) Meta tags and page titles are the bait which lure search engines. If every page on your site has the same page titles and tags, the engines will be less likely to take a closer look. It is fine to have similar phases, but every page has a reason for its existence. Use page titles to identify the unique reason
6. No page titles, slugs or headers - A worse offense then repeating titles, is having none at all. This is your opportunity to lead engines through your website in an organized manner, making sure they notice the most important information.
7. Too many key words - More is not better! When it comes to attracting the attention of search engines, adding in a large number of semi-relevant key words will actually lower your search engine rankings. Instead of stuffing each page to capacity, use your blog to create lots of pages, and vary the key words by page.
8. Irrelevant tags or key words- If you want to win search, it is not enough to title a page Small Business Marketing and use the term in key words and tags. Your content must contain the exact key phrase or Google will deem your key words and tags irrelevant .
9. Old content - Just like people, search engines get bored. As search engines crawl your site, they look for new content. If they find it, they are more likely to return again and again. If you are neglecting your site, so will Google.
10. You don't look good on all browsers - OK, so this is more a "people" then a search engine issue, but I already had 10 items on that list. The days of Internet Explorer dominance are long gone. As of August 2010, Firefox held 45.8 percent of the browser market, Internet Explorer had fallen to 30.7 percent and Chrome was climbing with 17 percent. Safari with 3.5 percent and Opera with 2.3 percent made up the balance. Each of theses browsers will display your website slightly differently. Be sure you test design and function on all of them before you launch.
As you read the list you may think winning the attention of search engines is about gaming the system. It isn't. It is about content. To attract people and search engines write smart, relevant content and everything else will fall into to place.
