Three little letters that probably didn’t mean much to most of us not all that long ago have now become some of the most important things in helping retailers and suppliers alike to run their businesses.
SEO is shorthand for search engine optimization and it’s basically the techniques businesspeople use to drive traffic to their websites and online posts through a calculated use of words, phrases, and images. (If you want a more technical explanation, you’ll have to ask the nearest Gen Z or millennial.)
But for retailers especially, SEO has been a critical tool in helping to create business for their sales. So, it’s kind of surprising – at least according to one expert – how so many retailers get SEO so wrong.
Writing in a recent post in the retail e-newsletter The Robin Report, journalist Jasmine Glasheen broke down seven big mistakes retailers make in their search engine techniques that result in “appallingly bad content.
“From long-form articles that were obviously generated by AI to Facebook Ads using slang that sounds more like Klingon than Gen Z speak, it’s become clear that many brands don’t know the basics, and retailers are doing SEO dead wrong.”
Harsh words but Glasheen lays out the seven worst SEO sins:
- Keyword Stuffing: Too often posts use certain words over and over again to the point that it becomes unreadable. It doesn’t fool the Google algorithm police and can be avoided by using related wording and synonyms.
- Lack of Sources: A writer going on and on about his opinion rather than citing third parties and experts in the field diminishes the value of the content. And diminishes viewership too.
- Evergreen is the Wrong Color: While retailers wish their posts had everlasting life, it’s more likely it will get dated and increasingly irrelevant the longer it lives online. One-and-done is often simply just done.
- No Target Audience: One size fits all often fits no one. You have to understand your target audience and what their interests are and tailor your message specifically to them.
- Obvious AI-Written Content: It may be the latest, greatest thing but artificially intelligence-generated content often misses the mark – or even worse, hits the mark endlessly, knocking itself out of systems designed to recognize brevity and conciseness.
- Lacks Subheadings or Images: What’s that old expression about a picture being worth a thousand words? It’s the same with SEO, to which you can add subheads and other breaks in solid copy blocks.
- Jargon Over Substance: It’s nice to know the language your target audience is using but it’s very easy to overdo it – and use it terribly wrong in the process. When in doubt, stick with your native tongue.
Nobody said SEO was easy. But nobody said it had to be this hard either.