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by Lindsey Smith
If you’re still using an outdated SEO strategy book that the library threw out in 1999, it may be time to rethink things. The internet is constantly evolving, and search engines are always finding ways to defeat ineffective and unfair attempts to circumvent organic searches. Are you guilty of using one of these ancient SEO techniques?
Keyword Density
In the far, far past — think a decade or two ago — folks believed that including a keyword over and over would boost search rankings for people that searched for that word. Websites would even artificially inflate their search rankings by sneaking in keywords (a few hundred times) at the bottom of their page, using a font color that matched the background color. It didn’t take search engines long to figure that one out.
Pages to Match Every Keyword Variation
Once upon a time, sites would include dozens of subpages, all with the same content. The only difference between them was the page names. It makes sense to try and incorporate text that includes keyword variations (like cell phone accessories, protective cell phone cases, and mobile phone cases) to cover all the bases, but naming individual pages in such a manner is a modern SEO no-no.
Link Baiting
We all want traffic to and from our site, but you need to be sensible about adding link bait — lest the Googlemonster sees through your ruse. If you’re selling office supplies, don’t link to a Huffington Post article called “7 Top Celeb Clothing Fails (NSFW),” regardless of how many hits the article has. Although Wikipedia gets zillions of hits per second, you should resist the urge to link there 85 times on your site.
Using outdated SEO tactics like these are not just ineffective — search engines can actually punish you for them. Reach out to the pros at Exults. They constantly monitor SEO trends and can help you choose the smartest path.
