Your SEO tactics have to change as the search algorithm changes
Google is constantly updating its search algorithms. As a local business owner, you, or your digital marketer, needs to keep up with the latest updates. As you do, you may have to change your SEO tactics accordingly. Some SEO tactics that worked brilliantly a few years ago may not work at all now. Let us check out some obsolete SEO tactics that could actually be hurting your website.
Ineffective seo tactics
Paying to much attention to keywords (keyword stuffing)
We’re not saying that keywords are not important for SEO. They definitely play the crucial role of telling the search engines what your website or content is about. It helps search engines rank you for the right search terms. However, this does not mean that by stuffing your content or Meta description with keywords, you can take it to the top of the search engine results page. It only makes your website look sketchy and users will likely not visit it. Moreover, Google now gives a lot of importance to user engagement and lack of engagement can significantly affect rankings. Even high-ranking sites can lose their high ranks if they fail to engage with users. So, rather than relying completely on keywords, you should shift focus to improving user engagement through better copywriting. Your aim should be to get people to click and stay on your site. This will please the Google bots and improve your rankings.
Quantity over quality is one of the worst SEO tactics
It was believed that publishing a lot of content is a great way to shine on the Google search page. In creating loads of content, a lot of people neglected the quality of content. This might have worked in the past, but now, Google gives the most weight to quality content. Anyone who still thinks that publishing a lot of poorly conceived content will take them to the top of the search page needs to rethink their strategy. Quantity without quality does not work anymore. Focus on creating authoritative, trustworthy, and engaging content. The idea is to have better content than the best ranking pages in your niche.
Another bad tactic is publishing short-form content. It does not help your SEO efforts. The data on Google’s top 10 results also show that Google does not favor short-form content. To get more visitors, your new content strategy should be to create long-form content, which means 2000+ words high-quality posts.
When it comes to content, there are a lot of outdated tactics or bad tactics that still exist. Duplicate content is one of them. If you want your website to rank well, you must aim for 100% original content. There are many apps available that can help you check your content for originality.
Don’t focus just on a higher ranking to get more traffic
It was believed that ranking higher on the SERPs would automatically bring more traffic to your site. The truth is that high rankings can ensure that more people see your listing. But it does not necessarily mean you will get more click-throughs. You may actually get less traffic if you are not targeting the right keywords or phrases. If your Meta titles and descriptions are not inviting enough, people will skip over your listing. Choose only related keywords and use Meta titles and descriptions that are interesting. This will engage the right audience for your business.
Getting listed on a lot of directories (including the spammy ones)
Directories were once a favorite among digital marketers to improve search rankings. However, getting loads of links from poor-quality directories does not work anymore. The current Google algorithm targets websites with unnatural links so having too many spammy links is not going to help. The better approach is to focus only on high-quality niche-related directories that can help you reach out to your target audience by offering them useful information about your business and website.
Exact match domains
Have you ever come across websites like “Getbestmassageintexas.com” targeting the “get the best massage in Texas” query? This tactic of matching domain names to the target search term has been quite popular. Having keywords in your domain is a good strategy. But when a spammy website name is accompanied by poor user experience, it is a recipe for failure. When choosing a domain name, it is important to keep in mind your brand identity and what it stands for and not just focus on search rankings.
When thinking about SEO strategies, you must keep in mind that the Google algorithm works to deliver quality content to those searching for it. Also, the Google algorithm is frequently updated, so it is important to keep up with the changes and ditch what no longer works.