Maybe you’re one of those people who find it difficult to move out of the past, or maybe you’ve latched on to a tactic you once found appealing, but if you are guilty of using some of these outdated SEO strategies, you may be costing you business money, scalability, and longevity. Even if you’ve decided you don’t want to hire an SEO consulting service like 180Fusion at the current time, you may want to check yourself on making mistakes that might be easily rectified with more modern and effective concepts.
Keywords before Clicks
Doing your keyword research is important, and understanding how to use keyword targeting matters when looking at marketing strategies. But while it may seem useful to target multiple keywords on the same page or in the same title element, it’s not necessary and may be detrimental to your overall purpose. Keywords, of course, are an important part of good SEO, but if the user is searching and has already found your page, how confusing might it be to see a variety of keywords all mashed into the same space without a comprehensible purpose and meaning?
It is critical to remember that Google is using click signals to help your document rank over time and to help your website rank over time. A clear title that makes sense, is intuitive, and helps your brand stand out is important for drawing the click. The goal is to try and create a message that is less focused on just having the raw keywords appear and more focused on drawing a click because the consumer is interested in what the link will lead him to. The “click mentality” is a far more effective approach that is vastly superior to the “keyword mentality” in the long run. Consider pausing Google AdWord Keywords when you find they are not converting a lead into a sale or if you believe they are adversely affecting your Google ranking.
Too Much Anchor Text on Internal Links
While this used to be a practice that positively impacted website rankings, more recently the location on the page has played a role. Outdated SEO strategies like using exact anchor text, especially on internal links should be avoided. When Google sees manipulation in the internal link structure, specifically when you’ve done things like stuff anchor text into all of the internal links, your website gets punished in the ratings. In fact, Google utilizes an algorithmic penalty for that will negatively affect your website when viewing it as inappropriate or overdone. Instead, consider where your internal link is in the navigation. If the internal link is in the footer, sidebar, inside content, AND if it is relevant and well-written, you are likely safe from penalty. But if your internal look looks sketchy or has low levels of usability or unclear flow within the content because it’s for search engines and not for users, you may find yourself on the receiving end of Google retribution.
Creating Pages for Every Keyword Variant
While this was once an effective SEO tactic and there are still many companies pursuing it as part of their overall marketing strategy, Google has gotten savvy enough to recognize it. Years ago, content builders would have a single page targeted for every keyword variant, maximizing the capacity for every keyword individually. While it essentially sacrificed usability, it did produce results. That was until upgrades like RankBrain allowed Google to switch to a more intent-matching model. Having four different pages with alternative keywords that are too similar to be distinct does not work. Instead, your SEO plan should be to create one content page that intelligently targets all of them, using them in places throughout the piece. Maybe one fits in the headline, another in the title, another in the meta description. An intuitive and well-organized combination of the variant keywords will serve your SEO plan much more efficiently.
While these are some of the most common errors companies make, small companies may be making other mistakes without recognizing as they face the challenge of trying to optimize their websites for search engines when they don’t know what they are doing. Reading many articles about SEO best practices may provide you with some basic information, but you may still find it difficult to optimize your website in such a way as to rank in an organic search. If you find yourself questioning what it is that you are doing and how you are doing it, it may be time to ask for a little help and advice from an expert SEO service.
How will you know when? If you aren’t showing up in search results or find your competition consistently ranks higher, you may need assistance. If you see web traffic declining or have been punished by Google, you may want to consider an SEO expert. What are some other signs you need some SEO consultation? Feel free to comment here.
