What is good SEO? Is it employing the tried and tested methods that have been in use since the dawn of SEO? Well, this is what most web marketers believe. On the contrary, however, whenever a site gets banished from search engines, in some way or the other, it comes down to poor or outdated SEO practices. When this happens, web admins usually do not know what happened and what needs to be done to fix it.
Now, this is where ‘effective SEO’ comes into play. With all the updates and regular changes in Google’s algorithm, ‘good marketing’ is the only thing that can save the day. And the bottom line is that old and outdated SEO methods do not equate to good marketing. Here we will have a look at ten obsolete SEO methods that you need to put behind and some of the alternatives that you can revert to for better results:
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- Submission of Articles
If an article submission website is what comes to your mind when talking about effective SEO, then you are wrong. These article sites will not help much, except in getting you a few backlinks (and low-quality ones!) here and there.
When it comes to SEO services near me, you should not aim for easy and low-quality links; instead, go for the ones that you attain through building relationships with bloggers or writing guest posts. It will help you get authoritative links that can add value to your site and increase its traffic.
- Using Reciprocal Links
Thinking you can easily get away unnoticed by exchanging links with other sites? Think again! For there is no easier way, the search engine will disregard your site as using low-quality links than if you use reciprocal links.
Links are a way of validating and endorsing your site; thus, you should do link building in a manner that actually helps visitors find valuable and relevant content; this is only possible when you link to sites with good content.
- Using Press Releases Just For The Sake of Publicity
Press releases are undoubtedly an effective tool to build PR and establish credibility for your website. Understand that you are not the only one out there doing business. Gaining publicity requires a lot more than mere existence.
If you do not have anything newsworthy, press releases are not your thing, for they would not help in any way except for getting you backlinks that aren’t of much use. If you want links, do something worth sharing as news to get high-quality ones that benefit your site.
- Poor Content
Creating quality content is one SEO technique that is here to stay for as long as SEO exists. Regarding content creation, you need to keep in mind your target audience and the purpose of writing: are you creating content just for search engines, or are you genuinely trying to help users? There should not be a disparity between what you create for search engines and your target audience. Provide something to users they would want to share and link to, and high rankings would automatically follow.
- Letting Automation Take Over
Automating your site would seem an easy way out; however, it does not reap the desired benefits in the long run. Social media is there for you to build relationships with your customers, but with automation, you damage relationships rather than build them. After all, tools are mere tools and cannot compensate for the real thing.
- Not Paying Attention to Social Signals
Social networks are the future of the internet; therefore, if you want to survive in the competition, you must enable social sharing on your site. Social sharing can have considerable benefits in terms of building relationships with customers. So, don’t forget to add that button to your site!
- Proceeding Without Strategizing
Jumping into SEO without a plan is the root cause of major marketing failures. Having a strategy and testing and updating it can save you from using outdated SEO techniques that are nothing but a waste of time.
- Focus too much on Rankings
Rankings are crucial in SEO but not so important that all you do is focus on them and ignore the rest. In pursuit of rankings, you might be ignoring other important aspects, such as building quality relationships with your customers and thus would fail to benefit in the long run.
- Concentrating on Google Only
Although Google is the authority towards which most web marketers target their SEO efforts, a close look at the facts could reveal something else. You’d be surprised to learn how much of your organic traffic comes from Google and other search engines. SEO is an investment, and the same rules as that of investing in stocks and bonds apply here as well. It is always prudent to broaden your portfolio and not risk everything on just one thing, which, in this case, is Google.
- Overlooking Website Design
Last but not least, your website design represents your brand. Therefore, you must not take it lightly. Hire a designer who knows his job and can create wonders for you when it comes to the website’s look and appeal to the customers. A search-engine-friendly site coupled with great SEO is guaranteed to skyrocket your rankings, as well as boost website traffic.
