Which SEO Techniques Should Be Avoided?
Search engine optimization has always been a popular and valuable practice for any website owner to engage in to ensure their site is found and ranked well in Google. But, today, the search engine algorithm has changed massively, rendering many old tactics obsolete.
Yet Google still keeps a steady flow of new techniques and techniques to update its algorithm.
This article will give you an insight into the tactics that are now considered outdated and what you should do instead. If you are wondering which SEO techniques should be avoided, the list below explains most of them:
1. Keyword Stuffing
SEO basics are to make sure your site has relevant content that people are searching for. Using keywords in your content can help with this, but only if correctly.
Using a high density of keywords in your content can look like you are keyword stuffing, which will likely result in a penalty from Google and a drop in rankings. Instead, choose to use your keywords naturally throughout the article and avoid putting them all together as one massive block of text.
2. Hidden Text
This was a great way to allow your keywords to rank in the search engines, but this is no longer the case. Google now penalizes sites that they feel are trying to manipulate their rankings and ensure that your SEO techniques are legitimate and not there for any other reason than adding quality content.
3. Paid Links
Paid links used t be a great way for SEO, but Google has changed its algorithm, so it is no longer as relevant as it once was. These days, Google targets sites that use specific link-building methods like buying links or offering them in exchange for promotion elsewhere on the web. These links will eventually be penalized by Google, and you can be sure that your site will be affected too.
4. Cloaking
Cloaking is when a website owner creates the same page in 2 different styles, one for search engines and another for people to see. This used to be a great way to get around the web spam filters, but these days it does not work as it used to, and so many sites have been penalized for practicing cloaking that Google has now banned it outright.
5. Open Site Explorer
Using this site to find out which pages of yours are ranking highly for a specific keyword is not advisable anymore. The site continues to change and regularly update, often adding new techniques that have already been banned.
6. Noindex Banners
There used to be a great benefit of using a no-index tag on an on-page element, but Google now penalizes these as spammy and hinders your overall ranking in their eyes. Instead, try using rel=”no-follow” on any links you feel are essential to your rankings.
7. Keyword Density Keywords
If you are using an article with a high density of keywords, then Google will see this as a type of keyword stuffing and penalize your site. Instead, try to use more descriptive keywords in your content that are more likely to be searched by the average person.
8. Flash Movies
Using Flash movies for your website used to be a great way to ensure both desktop and mobile devices saw your site, but this is now no longer the case. Google now no longer allows flash sites on their engine, and so if you have used flash videos for your site, then you will have lost out big time.
9. Blog Networks
Blog networks are now a thing of the past and no longer work, especially if you have recently bought links to promote your blogs. This is because this will result in an over-optimization penalty, and your site will suffer. So be careful of buying links and only do it from reputable sources if you decide to do anything like this in the future.
10. 301 Redirects
When you have a new domain, Google can take some time to crawl the site, but setting up 301 redirects, can help with a faster crawl and assist with search engine rankings. But, in recent years, Google has made it so that if you use a 301 redirect too many times within a short space of time, this can have the opposite effect and negatively affect your rankings. Instead, try to avoid doing this whenever possible and only use it when necessary.
11. Page Titles
Using keywords within your page titles can help with rankings in some way, but Google has now changed its algorithm, so this is no longer the case. Instead, try to keep your titles descriptive and allow users to differentiate between pages without using any keywords at all.
As you can see, many of the techniques people use to get their site ranked well in search engines are now useless and outdated. Instead, focus on creating high-quality content for your audience and only add keywords where it feels natural and necessary.
If you follow this advice, your website will eventually start ranking highly without any adverse penalties from Google because of the work you have put into it.
We at Flow20 will find the best SEO techniques that will work for your business!
