For Small Business Owners in Hackensack and Bergen County, NJ
SEO mistakes can seriously damage your Hackensack or Bergen County-based business website. Let's go over the most common missteps and how to avoid them.
Mistake #1: Skipping the Audit
We always begin every project with a comprehensive SEO audit. This reveals what's holding your website back - whether it's technical errors, poor content structure, or issues affecting search engine visibility.
The audit gives us a roadmap. From there, we create a customized strategy to help you stop losing traffic, leads, and search ranking ground to your competitors.
Mistake #2: Keyword Stuffing
Overloading your content with keywords makes it hard to read and instantly negatively flags your site to search engines. Instead, relevant keywords should be worked in naturally, engaging both readers and algorithms.
In Hackensack’s competitive small business market, content that reads well and is informative earns trust - and search visibility.
Mistake #3: Duplicate Content
Having similar or duplicated content across multiple pages can dilute your site's ranking power.
There are legitimate cases where similar content may be needed. When that happens, we handle it responsibly so your website doesn't get penalized or lose its Bergen County audience.
Mistake #4: Ignoring Mobile Responsiveness
Your website should look and function flawlessly on every device - desktop, tablet, and mobile phone.
If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re not just frustrating potential customers - you’re telling Google not to rank you. In a place like Hackensack where mobile search is high, this is a big deal.
Mistake #5: Stale Website Content
If you’re not updating your site regularly, you're sending the message that your business might no longer be active.
Just like stale bread, outdated content gets ignored. Search engines push it down the rankings - and so do your customers. Keep things fresh with updated blog posts, videos, and pages that reflect what’s going on now.
Mistake #6: Weak Meta Titles and Descriptions
Your meta titles and descriptions are your first impression on Google. They’re what make people click - or not.
They must be written with care. This is one of the things I teach my clients during our work together, using my proprietary approach to create meta tags that attract clicks and improve visibility.
Mistake #7: Slow-Loading Pages
If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, you're losing visitors - and fast.
We look at image optimization, caching, hosting quality, and site structure to make sure your website loads fast and keeps people engaged.
Mistake #8: Not Using Search Console or Analytics
If you don’t measure, you can’t improve. Google Search Console and Google Analytics tell you:
- How people are finding you
- What keywords they use
- Where they drop off
My clients often prefer Search Console because of its clean and direct insights - but either tool is better than none.
Mistake #9: Skipping Basic Technical SEO
Even small issues like broken links or a faulty sitemap can cause indexing issues.
Other culprits:
- Improper 301 redirects
- Misconfigured robots.txt files
- 404 errors left unaddressed
Regular technical audits keep your Hackensack business website visible and search engine friendly.
Mistake #10: Falling for SEO Scams
Run from anyone promising:
- 100s of backlinks
- Instant rankings
- Guaranteed page-one results
No ethical SEO professional makes those promises. Instead, invest in quality, relevant content and strategic internal linking - especially if you own multiple business sites. That’s what builds long-term reputation and results.