Search engine optimization (SEO) is the most common buzz every marketer hears just from the start of career development and continues to do an experiment in this wide field amid many speculations that are fueled up by each Goggle’ update.
You too might have heard the words like ‘SEO is dead’ or ‘SEO is no more effective after the introduction of AI tools’ or ‘PPC has replaced SEO’ etc from the uncompetitive SEO agencies. Such phrases are heard only from the marketers, who don’t update SEO practices according to the latest Goggle updates for search results ranking algorithms.
Goggle is on the continuous spree to provide the best relevant latest information to its users faster and at fewer efforts. The changes are being hailed worldwide marketers who invest their skills and experience to understand the latest trends in the ranking. Some traditional SEO trends have gone stale or may go stale by the end of 2019.
So, are you ready to refresh up your SEO strategy for 2020 by dropping the useless, outdated and time-consuming SEO activities? Here, I list ten SEO trends that are no longer effective to deliver the expected promotional benefits.
Ten SEO Trends You Should Stop Following:
- Keyword Stuffing: It was the most commonly used SEO practice to draw the attention of search engines. The overuse of keywords just for the sake of ranking of a particular set of keywords rather than serving the quality content caught Google’s attention. And, the result was Panda algorithm (Released in February 2011) to stop this black hat SEO practice. With the passage of time, Panda became powerful with 15 Panda updates. Keywords are still important but, use of keywords exceeding 3% of total content volume may make harm rather than doing any benefit.
- Use of Artistic and Tough to Read Fonts: Using artistic fonts like ‘Comic Sans’ just to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the website and share content was a common practice of SEO masters; however, such fonts distract the users and search engines both. Forget this practice and use simple and common fonts like ‘Times New Roman’ or ‘Calibri’ to enhance reading ease.
[A1] 3. Link Buying: The numbers of SEOs are still doing it just to increase the SEO budget for no gain. Buying backlink is no-no tactic as it violates SEO ethics. The widely used practice caught the attention of Goggle, and the result was Penguin algorithm update (April 2012) to punish link spamming. Instead of buying backlinks, it is acceptable to get backlinks through relevant guest posting and blogging. Since 2017, Penguin is the part of current Google’s core algorithm.
4. Using “Click Here!” Buttons: You might have seen “Click Here” button on most of the websites created to direct the visitors at another page without telling what that page is about. The generic word “Click Here!” doesn’t inform the busy visitors about the intent; therefore, it drifts the visitors to another source that could provide quick information.
5. Optimizing for Global Searches: This practice was widely used, even, it is being used today also to get more traffic by making the keywords searches at global landscape. However, getting traffic doesn’t serve the purpose unless a business gets leads with high conversion potential. Today, the majority of online buyers prefer to deal with a local vendor; therefore, optimization for global searches has become an outdated practice for the businesses not dealing with the international community. Do you know, 46% of total searches on Google seek local information?
6. Article Marketing: Until a few years back, article marketing used to be a standard element of SEO package of most of the SEO companies; even today some SEO experts are doing it just to create backlinks that no longer matter now. Now, Google and other leading search engines don’t value these links. Guest blogging is emerging fast as an alternative to article marketing.
7. Spamming Directory Submission: It is perhaps the most- practiced SEO tactic to create backlinks immediately at utmost ease by posting advertising content in free and low ranking directories. This practice for SE rankings had gone stale by the arrival of 2019; not trustworthy backlinks can deliver negative impact also. The solution is – use only reputed, good ranking and trusted directories that have dedicated space for your particular business type.
8. Using Spammy Blog Comments: Writing 2 or 3 lines comments on any relevant or irrelevant blog post were the common SEO practice but it has lost its effectiveness now because Goggle considers the placed backlink within the comment as the spammy link. Instead, post the quality blog relevant to our business niche. The followers will refer your business link to potential buyers in their circles; as a result, you will get all – traffic, rank, brand awareness, community, and revenue.
9. Neglecting Mobile Users’ Importance: Having a mobile responsive website has become a necessity for any size business. Do you know 57% of online buyers say that they won’t recommend the business no having a mobile responsive website? Do you know, during Q2 2018, smartphones shared 63% of retail website visits? Even today, numbers of businesses have no plan to have a mobile responsive website separately or to make existing website mobile-friendly. The approach of investing more in SEO of a non-responsive website wouldn’t deliver as many results as it used to be.
10. Volumetric Content Instead Of Quality Content: The good quality content costs more; therefore, some SEO companies compromise with content quality and use the duplicate content or poor quality content created by non- professional copywriters. March 2018 witnessed a core update dubbed as ‘Brackets update’. In addition, RankBrain[A2] helps Google to classify pages for ranking based on content quality. The low volume but quality content will serve the purpose that is not being done by inferior quality volumetric content.
Concluding Note:
To sustain or improve your website ranking and online visibility, you must respond promptly to the noticed changes in search results by following the latest trends as recommended by the giant search engines. The modern age SEO has become more personalized to your business and the target clients; so, there should be a strong link to keep the both interacting for a purpose- you need sale and visitor needs a reliable source to make a purchase. And – Goggle is also happy to see both happy.
[A1]https://searchengineland.com/library/google/google-penguin-update
[A2]https://moz.com/learn/seo/google-rankbrain