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Avoid This Big Mistake When Optimizing Your Site for Search Online marketing expert Neil Patel says this is one of the most common SEO mistakes and can negatively impact how your site ranks in searches online.

By Jason Fell

entrepreneur daily

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

There's a lot that goes into search engine optimization (SEO). There are numerous factors that dictate why your site ranks where it does in search results, and there are many things you can do to improve your site's ranking.

One big mistake entrepreneurs often make when building a website is having a poor URL structure, says online marketing expert Neil Patel. Instead of having URLs that contain symbols and extra words like "but" or "and," Patel says URLs need to be clean and simple in order for the search engines to easily crawl and index those URLs.

"Use numbers, use letters, use dashes," Patel says. "Do not use underscores or extraneous characters like the & sign."

For more tips, check out the short video above.

Related:

How to Split Your Time Between Technical SEO and Content Marketing

Google Hangout: Kick Up Your Online Marketing With This Expert Advice

Ultimate Guide to Optimizing Your Website (Book)

Jason Fell

VP, Native Content

Jason Fell is the VP of Native Content, managing the Entrepreneur Partner Studio, which creates dynamic and compelling content for our partners. He previously served as Entrepreneur.com's managing editor and as the technology editor prior to that.

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