Many of the old SEO Tricks are Dead
Over the last few years and months Google released three updates that have changed the SEO landscape forever. Old-hat techniques and the dirty tricks are being heavily hit by the new updates.
Penguin, Panda and Hummingbird all had updates that were designed to reduce the levels of SEO spamming, punish websites using black-hat SEO tricks and re-distribute the search traffic to again focus on Google’s primary aim with search results – bring up the MOST RELEVANT results for what is being searched.
So there are a number of old SEO tricks and myths that no longer have the same relevance or weighting that they had. There are some that will always be relevant but some of the changes may surprise you!
1. Inbound links are NOT good
So this statement isn’t strictly true, links from good quality sources are still counted as a positive for your website. However, an old-hat SEO technique known as “Link Farming” has caused many websites to take a major hit in the recent algorithm updates.
Link Farming was a way of artificially making your site look good, it used to work very well until Google caught on! Essentially you would employ a link farm to start creating dozens, hundreds, even thousands of links into your website from numerous others. This would make your website look as though hundreds of sources were referencing it, making it look more important and raising your ranking profile.
However, because this was such an over-used trick, the recent updates have come down on it like a ton of bricks! Websites that had enjoyed years of high positions now found themselves plummeting down the listings! We have had several clients come to us desperately trying to turn the situation around.
If you’re seeing a drop in your rankings, check your inbound link score!
2. Keywords do not have to be an exact match!
This is a common mistake, you do not need to repeat keywords or key terms verbatim throughout your page or copy. Nothing looks or reads much worse than a headline or sentence that has had your exact target keyword shoehorned into it.
Worse still, is forcibly repeating of the phrase in the false belief that pushing the keyword count up will win you more points with Google – it won’t!
Remember your page is being read by your audience, not just by Google’s Crawlers! Make sure it makes sense to the people who are going to read it. People first, Google second. Remember that in your copy writing and you’ll create better content.
Google’s recent updates no longer look for an exact match to a keyword term typed in by a user. What it is trying to do now is look for the INTENT behind those words. So it will use the words typed and broaden that out to search for and return the most relevant content.
Search engines aren’t going to punish your page for having been optimised for numerous keywords, but they are going to punish pages that overuse a keyword – “keyword stuffing” as it is known has been on Google’s naughty list for some time!
3. Meta Descriptions are no longer so important
Unlike your Meta Titles and Meta Keywords your Meta Description (the short snippet that appears under your search result in Google’s search) does NOT count toward your SEO at all!
The Meta Description is important for your website, it is important for you to get right… but it is NOT important for Google! What it is important for is your audience. When people scroll down a Google search, they’ll read the meta description – that short snippet of information underneath your search result. Based on what they read there they’ll either click on your link or move on! So make sure you get it right!
Think about when you’re looking for a film on your Sky box. You will read the synopsis before you decide to try the film/series you’re looking at. Your meta description IS your website’s synopsis! So make sure someone will want to click on it.
4. Microsites are not helping you
Microsites, unless you’re spending all your time on them, are just not helping your SEO. What you’re doing is spreading your SEO thin, taking focus and time away from your own website.
Realistically unless your microsite is just on one individual element of your business, something niche and singular that you can have a microsite for, there for the express purpose of marketing one particular part of your business – it is just drawing focus from your site.
Links coming in from your own microsites won’t be counted as harmful or toxic links, but they’ll be seen for what they are, a low-quality way to grow your online reach.
Your new SEO strategy for 2015 – High Quality Informative Content
There are numerous ways to improve your SEO and overall online exposure but Google’s new algorithm updates are pushing you into the inescapable position where you’ll have to face up to the fact that Google wants one thing – quality content.
That’s just about it. There are other things you can do, ways you can get that content into the faces of your customers and draw them towards you as opposed to your competitors. But SEO is moving toward needing a content strategy approach than a tricks and clever things campaign.
Getting that content correctly marketed, optimised and in front of your target audience is the challenge these days! If you would like any help or advice on this, please get in touch and let us know!
