3,200: that’s how many changes Google made to their search algorithms last year. That’s almost 9 changes a day! No wonder it’s getting more and more difficult for SEO experts to keep up. What worked yesterday might not work anymore today. Therefore, old and ineffective strategies don’t work anymore. It’s time to switch to new SEO strategies.
SEO Strategies that DO NOT Work
Knock, knock! It’s the present calling. It said not only do these strategies not work; they will also incur penalties for your website.
- Irrelevant keywords – Keyword stuffing is a manipulative practice that involves loading a page with irrelevant keywords and/or numbers to jack up the website’s ranking in the search results page. This leads to a negative user experience and decrease the website’s ranking. Common examples of keyword stuffing include:
- List or group of keywords that are out of context
- Random phone numbers that don’t add value to the content
- Blocks of texts (i.e. cities, states, locations) that a site wishes to rank for
- Word repetitions that sounds unnatural, spammy, and annoying to read
- Lists of keywords that are the same color in the background
- Redirects – Redirects are bad for many reasons. Redirecting to pages are even shadier. It’s the equivalent of leading people down a dodgy alley where they can get mugged. Not only will the users’ experience be bad; you will also end up with a high bounce rate.
- Bombing – Spamming the comment sections of other pages or sites does not work. The moderator of that website will immediately remove the comment and tag your website as spam and that puts you in a bad spot with search algorithms.
What to Do: It’s Time to Switch to New SEO Strategies
Search engine algorithms constantly change to respond to user needs and trends. To up your search ranking the right way, what should you do? Here are some tips.
- EAT it. EAT stands for expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Good content is well and good; but search engines want to make sure that the contents of a website are accurate, trustworthy, and given by actual experts on that field.
- The user is king. Make your website user-friendly with easy navigation and pleasing aesthetics; as well as interesting, relevant, and accurate content. The more time a user spends on your site, the better chances of a high ranking your site will get.
- Voice search optimization. Estimates show that voice search will account for half of the searches next year. You need to include voice search optimisation to your SEO strategy. Some techniques include writing content with long-tail keywords, using structured data, and understanding your audience among others.
- Build good backlinks. Google says links are still an important ranking factor. Nevertheless, remember that not all links are created equal. Low quality, spammy links do not work and can even cause your website’s downfall. Sydney SEO optimisation agencies agree that links with useful, high-quality content, especially with influencer backing really work.
- Pay attention to technical optimisation. A website with glitches and any kind of technical issues is unlikely to rank high in search engine. Therefore, you must pay attention to your website’s technical SEO strategy, as well.
SEO is quickly changing. New algorithms are constantly created by search engines. It’s not enough to rely on strategies of the past; it’s time to switch to new SEO strategies.
