Here is a list I found of things you should stay away from while optimizing your site for search engines:
1. Don't take the SEO spam seriously which you see in classifieds or get in your email. There's no need to submit to 5,000 search engines or 5000 directories. It's unlikely you can buy 2,000 quality
links for $30. No serious SEO can guarantee a number one position
on any search engine for relevant keywords. A trusty and serious SEO does not need to send out SPAM-mails and does not rely on fantasy-promises to get potential customers.
2. Don't wait too long with SEO implementation . Whether you just
launched a new site or whether you're upgrading your current web site, SEO
considerations should be made in advance. This also includes keyword research to plan your site around certain keywords. And not tweaking it afterwards.
3. Take your time deciding to hire a SEO. Hiring a SEO is something which should take time since you dont want the first best SEO coming along your way. Remember: It's your business!. Online marketing can make or break a company, chosing a service should need lots of research. And: Feel free to ask questions before you consider a SEO firm.
4. No content-spreading across several domains. There are
times when sub-domains or an extra domain will make sense. But always know
the pros and cons of using sub-domains and additional domains.
5. Submitting your URL to search engines is a waste of time. The bots and crawlers, Google, Yahoo, MSN et al. will find your web site anyway as soon as your links are established. Search Engine submission is overrated and basically really not needed.
6. Never have your web site uncrawlable. A wrong robots.txt file, having session IDs or too many variables
in your URLs, an incorrect and non-followable navigation menu, having your web site all in Flash, all graphics etc. are defintly big NOs when it comes to search engine optimization.
7. Dont use too general keywords. I see it way too often that people target keywords like "myspace", "shoes", "hosting" or similiar highly searched and general keywords. No way on earth is there even a remote chance for those sites to rank great for those terms. Use three- or four-letter words, do keyword research and target specialized keywords with some ok-to-good search volume and low competition. The "best" keyword is NOT the most searched for on the web, but the one giving you a realistic chance of rankings.
keyword stuffing - this one is tasty tho
8. No keyword stuffing. Stuffing keywords in META tags, Image-ALT Tags etc. This should be
obvious. Google is not easily fooled. Putting "Microsoft Windows" fifty
times in your tags does not make you rank higher than Bill for a search
on "Microsoft Windows".
9. No keywords in the page footer which blind-in with the background and no hidden text. Again, together wth keyword-stuffing this is just as pathetic and wont bring you anything. As a bonus you will get a nice Google penalty - if you're unlucky it might even get your site banned.
10. No same title element on every page. Avoid repetitions as good as you can. This is especially important for page-titles. Google has an eye on page-titles. So your unique content should also have unique page titles across your web site.
12. Don't let
www.example.com and example.com resolve to one home page. To a search engine those are two separate addresses -meaning you
would have the same, duplicate content at two seperate addresses.
12. Poor Usability. Proper and logical site navigation and descriptive texts are important. Not only for your users - also for the search engine spiders. Write and design your site with the human in mind - not the google spiders. Again: Google is not easily fooled and a site which is good for your people will also suit the spiders and therefore your SEO.
13. Never give up creating content because you think
that you don't need it for your site or your customers would not be not interested in it. There's always room for great and new content. People in particular love TOP-Lists and similiar where they can bookmark and always come back to. Don't get lazy. Content is still king.
14. Don't go for low-quality links with unrelated sites just "to have links". Some immediately start trading
links with every site they can find. For the sake of quality link you can forego low-quality link-trading with sites which have nothing to do with your product or service. You might get a huge number of links, yes, but in the long run this will rather hurt you. Focus on related sites and high quality. Be patient. Be choosy !
15. Not alway the same anchor text on all links to your web site. That's what is called "unnatural link building". The best way to build links is with varying anchor-texts and not automated by directory-submission to 1000s of directories using the same text. Every dummy can do this from certain web pages or using certain tools in a matter of minutes. Google, again, is not that stupid. Go it slow and build quality links and rather do a few manual high quality ones with different descriptions. No high volume repetive automated submitted links.
16. No links all over forums, blog comments To a certain amount this is spamming. There's nothing wrong to do this in moderation. But there are better ways to just leave your links all over the net. Example: Article writing and submission.
17. Obsession with keyword density. We all know we need our keywords in the page title, meta tags, body text etc....but obsessing over keyword density and trying to "tweak" it to perfection is pointless. If there is an "exact formula" we all would use it. There is none.
18. No Obsession over Google PageRank. Page Rank does not really have any real life value except telling you whether a
page is stored in the main or supplemental index and giving some information about crawl-rates etc.
18 Things your Should not do while Practicing SEO
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