5 common mistakes that hurt your page rankings on Google -- and all are easy to fix

Google's Matt Cutts explains the five most common mistakes that web sites make in setting up their search engine optimization.

They are:

1. Designing pages that are unfriendly to Google's web crawlers.
2. Failing to use keywords on the page in everyday language and in HTML.
3. Thinking too much about generating links and too little about creating compelling content.
4. Investing too little time in creating a memorable title and an enticing description.
5. Failing to take advantage of Google's free webmaster tools.

A good brand journalist can easily fix problems 2 and 3, and can influence 1, 4 and 5.