Everyone makes them and everyone hates them. Typos are the bane of the Internet’s existence, creating turmoil for grammar Nazis and fodder for those who like to mock typos. Facebook understands how many typos are made and they created a way for users to correct their mistakes, but what happens when it comes to writing your content? You probably will not have the Facebook users who will comment and make sure you know just how many typos your content has. It can be pretty embarrassing if you notice them days later. It can also be detrimental to your search engine ranks. This blog will explore how typos can impact your rankings, how to avoid typos, and some of the most commonly misspelled words.
Is it Really Detrimental?
Unfortunately, it is. While the occasional typo will not be a detriment, if you consistently have typos it will begin to hurt your rankings. As Search Engine Land points out, Google and Bing have begun ranking posts that not only use specific keywords, but also are high quality. If your posts have many typos all the time, they, logically, will not be considered quality. You probably think that sucks, but would you trust a site that always makes errors in their posts and content? No. You would find them unprofessional and you would not believe them when they stated they were the leaders in their field. Make sure your content is free from errors.
Thankfully, though, you do not have to worry about user comments dragging you down. Matt Cutts of Google put everyone’s minds at ease by saying that as long as your content is grammatically sound and free from error, user comments will not change your ranks. In fact, those comments reflect on the commenter, not the writer of the blog.
Avoid those Typos!
We know that you think that it will be difficult to spot all of those typos, but we are here to give you a few tips on how to avoid typos in your future content.
1. Read Out Loud. Reading your content out loud is a great way to find errors you have made. When reading silently, our brains do something amazing, yet annoying – they fill in the errors with the correct word. Reading slowly and aloud will help you come across the times you use “you” instead of “your” or use “it” instead of “if.”
2. Take More Time. Don’t rush your writing. We understand deadlines, but if you rush, you will find that your content is sloppy and filled with errors. Hurrying makes you use “their” instead of “there” or other groan-worthy mistakes. Schedule out your writing assignments so that you do not have to do a lot of rushing on the day it is due. This will give you the ability to take all the time you need to research and properly write your article or blog.
3. Get Fresh Eyes. Brafton.com suggests getting fresh eyes to read your content. You can only find so many typos before you begin to go blind to others. Fresh eyes will find things you didn’t find and can tell you if your post makes sense or is redundant. In addition, fresh eyes will read the article fully, whereas you are probably beginning to skim your writing. Skimming is a big no-no when it comes to proofreading! A great place to start with getting fresh eyes is by hiring copy editors. They are specially trained to work with all kinds of copy. Copy editors can offer amazing suggestions for corrections to be made. They will catch all kind of mistakes and typos, saving you from embarrassingly publishing something chockfull of errors.
4. Grammarly. While it does not catch every mistake, Grammarly is a great tool to help writers proofread their content. It tells you when you misspell a word, use a commonly confused word, or it will correct basic grammar and do many other cool things. It is important to note that it is not foolproof and it will not catch everything, and sometimes it makes some wonky suggestions! Always proofread and make sure their suggestions fit with your writing.
Commonly Misspelled Words.
When you make a mistake, it is natural to feel ashamed and embarrassed, but remember that a lot of other writers and editors make similar mistakes. This doesn’t mean you can slack off on your proofreading; it just gives you a sigh of relief that you aren’t the only one to make blunders.
Here are a few of the most commonly misspelled words on the Internet (how many of these make you groan and shake your head?):
- Definitely – Definately (our fingers just felt terrible typing that!)
- Receive – Recieve
- Occurrence – Occurence
- Government – Goverment
- Regardless – Irregardless (ouch!)
We should also mention, “could of” and “should of” as being a common mistake made in the majority of writings. Do your best to stay away from these and always double check that you haven’t fallen into typing terrible typos. You might even pop on over to The Oatmeal and check out their list of The Top Ten Words You Need to Stop Misspelling.
Remember
Everyone makes typos at some point and everyone publishes said typos. It is something we will all do, but you have to take measures to make sure you do not publish typos consistently. By following the steps listed above, you will be able to stop those typos from being published and your search engine rankings will not suffer.
