It’s Time To Lay These Five SEO Tactics To Rest
The internet is synonymous with change and thus, so is search engine optimization! Our team at TalenAlexander is proactive and trained to understand the subtle, nuanced changes Google has introduced with their Hummingbird, Panda, and Penguin updates.
Over time, we have helped numerous clients solve the most challenging SEO issues, putting in the paces to meet the most demanding optimization expectations. Working on these projects has allowed us to further hone our skills, identify the best and the most sustainable strategies, and more importantly, zero in on the ones that are completely obsolete.
By doing away with outdated SEO strategies, you can ensure your resources aren’t used in the wrong places and instead focus on strategies which lead to assured results.
Let’s take a look at five such tactics
1.The More Links, The Higher Your Ranking
Every search engine analyst is familiar with the concept of link building, as it still remains the go-to strategy for SEO.
However, times have changed and building a huge network of links no longer helps rank your site at the top of SERP’s. Google has revised the ranking algorithm with its Penguin update and the focus should now be on both quality and quantity. While all SEO experts worth their salt are well aware of this change, many of them still persist in believing quantity trumps quality in link building.
This is a big mistake.
When building your website it is important to understand its niche and research the web to find high quality resources which you can create outbound links to and gain inbound links from. Avoid spamming your own site with too many links and take the time to populate it with authoritative links that will create strong link juice.
2. Creating Keyword Focused Pages
Whenever we work with a new client, we conceptualize ideas in order to come up with the best way to implement necessary keywords into SEO content. We no longer suggest creating keyword focused web pages to our clients because high keyword density has been a dead SEO tactic for years now. Black hat SEO specialists have exploited this tactic to the hilt, which forced Google to literally ban any website that doesn’t offer informative content, but instead stuffs their pages with too many keywords.
The best approach is to focus on the topic as a whole rather than focusing on individual keywords. With the Hummingbird update, Google now ranks a website based on the quality of information you deliver to its audience rather than the number of times a focus keyword is used on a page.
Create terrific content, sprinkle it with the right keywords, and upload it with appropriate optimization tactics to rank better on search results.
3. SEO Driven Verbosity
Many newbies in the world of search engine optimization strongly believe that the longer the content, the higher it will rank and attract organic search traffic. This isn’t entirely wrong, but content shouldn’t be long just because you want to leverage it for SEO purposes. Content length must be determined by the topic it discusses and the audience for which it is catered. In the age of Hummingbird, Google wants you to post user driven content that answers long search queries.
Lengthy content purely written from the SEO perspective doesn’t cut it anymore and is another dead SEO tactic.
Popular websites like ReadWrite and technology resources like Arstechnica focus on long articles sporting at least 1000 words or more. They do this because they have something important to say. However, if you’re posting the latest news story or an update, content length doesn’t matter. You could convey this information in a manner that is short, crisp, and concise.
4. Undue Importance to Meta
Modern day search engines are highly sophisticated and capable of analyzing a website in less than a second. The search engine ranking of your website or page is no longer only determined by the meta description or the keywords you use. While you might be in deference to this logic due to Google returning results with a meta description, it is only one determining factor among a list of many–therefore you shouldn’t rely solely on meta tags.
While meta descriptions and keywords don’t have a direct impact on rankings, they do give visitors a fair idea about the content within. Potential visitors will read the title and description, which if done strategically could ultimately help increase your click through rates. Writing a catchy headline increases the chance of your target audience visiting your page, but make sure there is substantial, relevant information within your page because click baits are considered as spam.
5. High Rankings will get you More Clicks
If you believe a link placed at the top of SERP’s will get more clicks, you are living in the past. We educate all of our clients that higher rankings no longer get you more visitors. While in a logical sense a link returned at the top of a Google search result should increase your clickthrough rate, users are more proactive than ever and know how to navigate through the truckload of information every search engine provides them.
You need the right strategy to earn more clicks. Your links need to be present on more places online in order to be clicked. For example, mobile and online internet users in your target demographic may spend a large percentage of time on social media. Now ask yourself, do they come across your links on popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter etc.?
We realize in optimizing websites for search engines in an era dominated by desktop computers, smartphones, tablets and phablets is tricky. Potential customers are highly informed and are always on the lookout for the best deal, discount, and/or product information. They may consider you as a reliable source when you rank higher, but that doesn’t guarantee clicks. So instead of fighting to reach the top of SERPs, our objective is to create high quality content and relevant information.
The conundrum with search engine optimization is that strategies and tactics oftentime become obsolete by the time you get accustomed to using them. Google, in keeping with the best interest of their users, realizes that corners will be cut by black hat SEO experts to undermine the quality of their service.
If you are vying to build a successful relationship with patrons and let the world know what you offer through your website, it’s important to adopt Google’s approach and avoid stagnating, all the while remaining cognizant of shifting SEO strategies.
