Common SEO mistakes: Why Google is ghosting you
Sep 17
8 min read
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You’ve poured your heart and soul into a blog, pressed the ‘upload’ button with all the hope in the world, only to be met with radio silence from Google. No hits, no conversions, no engagement. Nothing.
Google has once again ghosted you, your content, and all you have to say — but why?
Don’t take it personally
Even the best writers can’t escape the judgment of search engines, so don’t be too disheartened if your website content appears to be falling short.
You’re not a bad writer. You’ve just got yourself caught up in common SEO mistakes that many people make when writing content. The words you use (or don’t use), how you order them, and how you present them all have a huge impact on whether your blog is a hit or a flop.
That’s really all there is to it. With this in mind, it’s time to learn why it happens and, most importantly, how to stop it from happening. The good news is that most SEO issues are very fixable.
Identify the SEO mistakes causing the issue
Here are some of the most common content SEO mistakes that people make. We’ve broken it down clearly so you can see:
a) What the mistake is
b) The effect it has
c) How to fix it
Stuffing keywords
Keyword stuffing is essentially where you take a search term that will help people find your content and shoehorn it into what you’re writing as much as possible — and we’ll be the first to admit that it’s very tempting and easy to do, especially if it’s quite a general keyword.
Example of keyword stuffing:
“Looking for a London plumber? We have London plumbers delivering London plumbing services across the London area. Get in touch with our London plumbers today.”
We may have just risked the reach of our blog for that example, so we hope it was helpful!
Why it’s a problem:
Keyword stuffing is one of the oldest SEO mistakes, but it doesn’t seem to stop people! Back in the day, search engines weren’t advanced enough to recognise repetition, so keyword stuffing was used as a bit of a cheat code.
Nowadays, search engines can easily recognise unnatural repetition and aren’t afraid to penalise black hat SEOs by pushing their content further down the ranks. Plus, it also makes your content sound robotic, inhuman, and not very engaging.
What to do instead:
Before writing any piece of content, identify one primary keyword (the most relevant to your topic with the highest search volume) and up to four secondary keywords to target.
Use your primary keyword as naturally and sparingly as possible. That being said, you should definitely include your primary keyword in your title tag, meta description, H1 heading, and URL.
Mix your content up with synonyms, variations, and other related search terms, such as your secondary keywords.
Prioritise a people-first approach before writing to appease search engines. We don’t know how, but Google just knows when you’re trying too hard!
Writing for Google, not your audience
If you’re writing purely to please Google, then you’re doing it wrong. Following that rigid, ten-page-long SEO checklist you saw on the internet could actually result in dry, overly complicated content that people just won’t engage with.
Those top rankings will start to roll in when you master the balance between writing for people and writing for Google.
Why it’s a problem:
Search engines promote people-first content. Ultimately, if your content doesn’t read well, add value, or answer a question clearly, it won’t be pushed by the algorithm to perform well.
What to do instead:
We cannot stress enough how important it is to write genuinely useful content. In a world where anyone can copy and paste from another website, it’s never been more important to nail down your target audience, their search intent, and hit the nail on the head with what you’re saying.
Write directly to your target audience.
Offer relatable examples to break down technical terms or complex ideas.
Keep your copy as natural and easy to follow as possible.
Producing thin content
We recently wrote a blog post about how long a blog article should be, so we definitely understand the confusion around ideal word counts for SEO.
“Thin content” is basically any content that hasn’t been fleshed out enough. Instead, it just skims the surface. For instance, a 300-word blog on a complex topic, like accounting, just isn’t enough to offer useful value to readers.
Why it’s a problem:
When you upload “thin content”, you’re essentially telling search engines that the information you’re offering isn’t authoritative, helpful, or in-depth enough to be of value to a reader. Naturally, they won’t want to push this type of content to the higher ranking spots on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
What to do instead:
If you’re writing about a niche topic and struggling to hit the baseline of 300+ words, try to:
Prioritise content quality and depth rather than word count.
Flesh out the piece with data tables, infographics, FAQs, and visuals (ensuring that they’re relevant and useful to the reader).
Combine smaller blog topics into a bigger blog, such as an in-depth guide.
Duplicating content
Duplicating content occurs on many different levels. The difficulty is, it’s not always clear-cut plagiarism, which can definitely catch a few writers out.
For instance, if you’re writing a blog about your business services, you may turn to your homepage for inspiration. You already have the content there, so why not just reuse it in your blog?
Why it’s a problem:
When you duplicate content, search engines don’t know which page to rank in the SERP, especially if both pages are on a similar topic or use the same keywords.
Ultimately, this can result in the search engine diluting both pages’ visibility due to something known as “keyword cannibalisation”. It sounds a bit dramatic, but it’s definitely worth being aware of.
What to do instead:
We know it can be easy to fall into the trap of duplicate content. Here are a few ways to stay on the good side of search engines instead:
Focus on repurposing your content as a video, infographic, or social media post.
Always prioritise creating fresh, original content with a new angle.
Missing the point
All keywords come with a search intent — and this is important to consider when writing any piece of content for a website. When you ignore search intent, you risk not meeting your target audience’s need, and this need is exactly why they click on your page in the first place.
Examples of search intent:
Informational: The reader wants to gain knowledge or an answer to a question. E.g. “What does a plumber do?”
Navigational: The reader wants to be directed to a specific website or brand. E.g. “Plumbing services in London”
Transactional: The reader is ready to take action, whether that be to buy a product, sign up for a course, or enquire about a service. E.g. “Emergency plumber in London”.
Commercial investigation: The reader needs persuasion and reassurance — they’re weighing up their options before buying. E.g. “Why choose a local plumber vs a national plumbing company?”.
Why it’s a problem:
Misaligned content is one of the most important SEO mistakes to avoid, because it has the potential to drive users away before they finish your first sentence.
This can also result in high bounce rates (when users leave your site quickly after clicking), which signals to search engines that people aren’t finding your content useful.
What to do instead:
The ultimate goal of any SEO writer is to give the reader exactly what they’re looking for and more. Here’s how to do it:
When conducting keyword research, search the keyword for yourself and see what types of content appear in the top spots. This is always a good indicator — is it an in-depth guide, quick checklist, or product page?
Plan your content around search intent.
Neglecting your metadata
Meta titles and descriptions (also known as metadata) are the little snippets you see on the search results page.
They give your target audience a sneaky first impression of what they’ll find if they click through to your website. With this in mind, it’s important to make them catchy, compelling, clear, and relevant.
Example of bad metadata:
Meta title: Home | Our Website
Meta description: Our website about our services. Click to learn more.
Example of good metadata:
Meta title: Content & Copywriting Services | The Content Coven
Meta description: Need a hand with web copy, blogs, or product descriptions? Let The Content Coven support you with captivating copywriting services.
Why it’s a problem:
Search engines can tell when you haven’t put care and attention into your metadata — and so can your target audience.
Weak metadata without any keyword inclusions isn’t likely to rank high in the SERP, as it doesn’t tell Google what your page is about or offer value to your target audience.
What to do instead:
Level-up your metadata game with these simple tips and techniques:
Write keyword-rich meta titles that are 50–60 characters long. Does your content do what it says on the tin?
Treat your meta description like a mini advert for your page and keep it under 160 characters long.
Never duplicate metadata across pages to avoid cannibalisation (like we mentioned earlier!).
Use handy online tools like this metadata length checker to stay within the recommended character limit.
Forgetting to add subheadings
The human eye loves structure — and so do search engines. If you’re posting pages with walls of text and no subheadings or formatting in sight, you could be doing your website and content a disservice.
Why it’s a problem:
There’s a reason why no one reads through terms and conditions. It’s because they’re long, boring, and intimidating. Publishing huge blocks of content can give the same effect, ultimately overwhelming readers and forcing them to click away from your page and onto someone else’s.
This can lead to high bounce rates, which you now know are a big negative signal for search engines. They’re essentially huge red flags to Google saying, “This page is no good! Send it to the bottom”.
What to do instead:
Make scary walls of text a thing of the past by:
Using H2 and H3 headings to act as visual guides throughout your content.
Keeping your paragraphs to 2–4 sentences long as a rough guide (use your judgement depending on sentence length).
Keeping sections within subheadings to a maximum of 300 words.
Using bullet points to break down complex points or technical information into an easy-to-process format.
Not adding internal links
Think of your website as a map, your individual website pages as different places, and internal links as the routes that link them all together into one big picture. If you’re writing pages but not linking out to other pages on your website, then you could be leaving that page isolated in its own metaphorical bubble, which is no good for SEO!
Why it’s a problem:
Without internal linking, it’s almost impossible for search engines to understand how your site operates and how the different pages link together, which can result in low visibility, low engagement, and low traction.
What to do instead:
Luckily, internal linking is one of the easiest quick SEO wins:
Try to include 3–5 relevant internal links on each page or post.
Use descriptive anchor text (the words you “attach” the link to) wherever possible, e.g. “Find out more about our services” instead of “Click here”.
Tried everything? Contact The Content Coven
Content SEO is a bit like casting the right spell. You have to blend strategy, structure, and storytelling together into one. When you achieve this blend, you won’t be ghosted for much longer…
If you’ve worked your way through all the fixes and are yet to see a change in ranking position and engagement, let us know, and we’ll be happy to see how we can help you with our copywriting services.
Find out more about us, head over to our FAQs to learn more about how we work, and get in touch to have a chat about your SEO requirements.
