Top Five Common SEO Mistakes Online Ad Publishers Must Avoid

Let’s think of online publishing like a billboard by the road. Your billboard is terrific, but there’s a hitch. It’s placed in a quiet, hidden spot where very few people pass by. Now, imagine Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a powerful spotlight. With SEO, you can move your billboard from that hidden spot to a busy street where everyone can see it.

This way, your website gets noticed, bringing in more visitors and earning you more money.

Online ad publishers who use ad monetization as a source of revenue often get caught up in finding the best deals and adding more ad slots, forgetting how important it is to be visible online. 

As a result, they neglect SEO, which eventually affects their ad earnings. So, what are the common SEO errors that can hurt your revenue as an online ad publisher?

Here Are the Five Common SEO Mistakes to Avoid

1. Neglecting keyword research

One of the most common SEO blunders is not conducting thorough keyword research. Keywords are the foundation of SEO, and without the right ones, your content won’t reach the intended audience. 

Research and select keywords that are relevant to your niche. Here’s what you need to do:

• Use keyword research tools 

Keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush can help you discover the most relevant, popular, and profitable keywords. These tools can also provide you with data on keyword difficulty, search volume, competition, and trends.

•  Analyze your competitors’ keywords

By looking at what keywords your competitors are ranking for and what content they are creating, you can get insights into their strengths and weaknesses. You can use tools like Ahrefs, SpyFu, or SimilarWeb to conduct a competitive analysis.

• Optimize your content for your target keywords

After identifying the best keywords, you need to use them strategically. Use them in the title, headings, URL, meta description, body, and images. You also need to use synonyms, variations, and related keywords to avoid keyword stuffing and improve your relevance.

• Pick keywords with a decent search volume

Monthly keyword searches vary based on niche, industry, location, seasonality, and competition. No one-size-fits-all rule defines good search volume; it’s about attracting traffic while considering your goals. Small businesses favor 100-1000 searches, while larger ones may aim for 1000-10000. Keyword type matters—broad terms need high volume, and specific ones excel with lower to medium volume. Use SEO tools for effective planning.

• Track, measure, and refresh your keywords 

Monitor the performance of your keywords. Check the effect it has on traffic, conversions, and revenue. Use tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, or Bing Webmaster Tools to analyze the performance. You should also consider timely updates and add newer keywords to keep up with the changing trends, user preferences, and search engine algorithms. Use tools like BuzzSumo, Google Trends, or AnswerThePublic to find new and trending topics and keywords.

2. Ignoring mobile optimization

If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you might miss out on a big chunk of your audience. Recent stats show that 55% of folks visiting websites are doing it from their phones, and a whopping 92.3% of people use their mobiles to surf the web. Overlooking mobile optimization can be detrimental. Mobile-friendliness is a ranking factor for search engines, and a website that’s not mobile-responsive will rank lower. To stay in the game, you should:

• Optimize pages for mobile devices to boost traffic and engagement 

Your pages, inventories, and ad formats  – make sure they are all set up for mobile users. This increases ranking and visibility on search engines and gets you more engagement on social media. For example, as a search engine, Google uses mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor and favors websites optimized for mobile devices. 

• Prioritize user experience with a responsive design

Nobody likes to zoom in, scroll all over the place, or wait forever for a page to load. So, go for a design that adjusts itself to fit any screen. Happy users stick around longer and enjoy your content more.

• Increase revenue and conversions with mobile optimization 

Mobile optimization can also have a positive effect on your bottom line, as it can increase your revenue and conversions. People find and consume content easily, plus they are more likely to subscribe, buy, or hit you up. According to Adobe, mobile-friendly sites have conversion rates 2.4 times higher than those that aren’t.

3. Overlooking page speed

Website page speed is an important factor for online publishers, as it can affect their user experience, traffic, engagement, and revenue. If you are an ad publisher, you may face some challenges in optimizing your website page speed, as ads can slow down your site and reduce your performance score. Here’s what you can do to place ads without compromising your website speed:

• Create a database index to help your website load faster 

This will reduce the number of queries and operations needed to retrieve data from your database. A database index can also improve site security and prevent SQL injection attacks. 

• Take advantage of symmetry and balance the visual elements

A symmetrical and balanced web design is like having everything in its proper place. It reduces the amount of code, limits the rendering of images, and lowers HTTP requests and server load. You can also avoid placing too many ads on one side of your website to keep the layout and performance of your site intact.

• Measure your site’s speed regularly

Monitor your site speed regularly to identify and fix any issues or bottlenecks affecting your website performance. You can use free tools like GTMetrix and Google’s PageSpeed Insights to measure your site speed and get suggestions on improving it. You can also use Google Search Console and Google Analytics to track your site speed and user behavior.

• Optimize your ad and content images

Compress, resize, and use the correct formats to optimize the images on your website. You can use tools like TinyPNG, ImageOptim, or WebP to reduce their file size. The lazy loading technique is also great for deferring loading images until the user needs them.

• Minimize your JavaScript code 

You should minimize your JavaScript code by removing any unnecessary or unused code. Use minification tools or defer them until the page has loaded. You should also avoid using too many third-party scripts or plugins, as they can increase your page load time.

• Avoid iFrames whenever possible

iFrames are useful, but they slow down your site. iFrames add requests, page size, and rendering delay. Try to use HTML5, CSS3, or JavaScript instead.

• Cache it out

Caching can improve your site speed and performance, as well as reduce your server load and bandwidth consumption. You can use tools like W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket, or Cloudflare to implement caching on your website.

4. Skipping meta descriptions

Skipping meta descriptions can be a major SEO mistake for an online ad publisher, as meta descriptions influence the click-through rate (CTR) of your website in search results. Meta descriptions are the short snippets of text that appear below your page title and URL in search engines, and they provide a summary of your page content and value proposition to the user. Here’s how you can write effective meta descriptions:

• Expand on your title tag and provide more information about your page.
• Your meta description should match the intent of the user who is searching for your page.
• Use active voice and action verbs to create a sense of urgency and excitement.  
• Be concise and clear, and avoid unnecessary words or filler. The optimal length of a meta description is around 155 characters, as search engines will truncate anything longer.
• Test the performance of your meta. Monitor, edit, and optimize it using SEO tools.

5. The 4XX status code

This error class often indicates an issue on the user’s end, leading to a failure in accessing a particular webpage. Common 4XX errors include:

• 403 Forbidden: This occurs when the server denies a user access to a resource. It typically happens when there are links to restricted pages accessible somewhere on your website.
• 404 Not Found: This is a well-known error appearing when a user attempts to access a page that no longer exists, is located elsewhere, or never existed in the first place.

Interesting Fact: Research shows ad publishers lose 79% of potential revenue by ignoring SEO.

Here Are a Few Additional SEO Mistakes to Steer Clear of

• Ignoring local SEO:

Neglecting local SEO is a missed opportunity for businesses targeting local audiences.

• Not focusing on quality content:

Quality content is essential; please make sure to invest in creating informative and valuable content for your audience.

• Not monitoring analytics: 

Regularly analyze website performance through tools like Google Analytics to identify improvement opportunities.

• Inconsistent link building: 

Build high-quality, natural backlinks consistently over time to boost website authority.

• Pages with links to insecure HTTP pages: 

Prioritize website security to enhance user trust and search engine visibility.

• Pages that can’t be crawled or indexed:

Ensure all pages are crawlable and indexable to appear in search results.

• Incorrect sitemap entries:

Maintain accurate sitemap.xml entries to guide search engine crawlers effectively.

The Impact of SEO Mistakes on Ad Revenue

When online publishers make SEO mistakes, it can seriously harm their income from ads. Here’s how:

1. Fewer people find your website

SEO mistakes make it more complicated for your web pages to appear on Google and other search engines. That means fewer people stumble upon your content when they search for things online. 

2. Lower ad impressions

If your content isn’t set up well for SEO, it won’t attract a big audience. As a result, you’ll get fewer ad impressions, which means less money in your pocket.

3. Higher bounce rate 

People leave if your site is slow, irrelevant, or hard to use. High bounce rates lead to lower ad engagement and earnings.

4. Disinterest among advertisers

Advertisers want to put their ads on sites with good content and engaged audiences. If your site has SEO problems, leading to low-quality content or low engagement, advertisers might not want to advertise on your site. 

So, How to Boost Ad Earnings?

Now that you know the common SEO mistakes and their impact on your website, let’s explore how to rectify them.

1. Fix those SEO mistakes by using SEO tools or asking for help from an SEO expert.
2. Make your content unique and exciting that keeps readers interested, and they’ll stay longer and might even click on your ads.
3. Websites must be responsive and mobile-friendly to accommodate all types of users.
4. Listen to your visitors. Let them tell you what they like and don’t like.
5. Smart ad placements are essential. Put them where people will notice but not feel interrupted.
6. Keep an eye out, watch your site, and make continual adjustments for ad earnings to improve.
7. Ask an ad monetization expert to optimize ad placement, formats, and quality.
8. Track ad performance and conduct A/B testing.
9. Help mitigate ad-blockers impact.
10. Stay compliant with industry regulations.
11. Enhance ad strategy and user experience.

Thank you for engaging with our exploration of common SEO mistakes among online publishers. We hope the information provided has been insightful for optimizing your online presence.

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