Employing bad SEO techniques or outdated SEO tactics does not bring you the traffic that you want, or worse, brings to your website the wrong sort of traffic that does not lead to conversions. What you consider as tried and tested methods may not be valid any longer. Before you sit down to scratch your head over what happened and how it can be fixed, read on to find out 10 outdated SEO techniques you should not be using any more:
1. Article Submissions
Building links requires time and effort and submitting Ezinearticles does not ensure that you get quality links. Build relationships with bloggers. Invite guests to write posts on your website. These activities should help drive the traffic you want to your website and build authoritative links.
2. Press releases without newsworthy information
There is no point in sending out press releases just to inform the world that you exist, in the hope of getting links. You are wasting your time and running down your credibility.
3. Link exchanging
A link is a sort of endorsement; do not try to get links easily and cheaply by offering to swap links with other businesses. Google and other search engines are able to sniff out such instances. A link should lead to additional and usable information or enriching content.
If you post good content on your website, serious businesses will be glad to link to you.
4. Creating poor content
Just any sort of content won’t do. The person writing content for your website should have the requisite knowledge and the skills to express themselves clearly, yet attractively. If you have good content, you can drive good links.Content should be tailored to cater to search engines as well as an audience. However, you should not be writing the same things over and over again in different ways just because you feel there is nothing more to write about.
5. Using automated tools
If you want good results online for your business efforts, you cannot wiggle out of it by relying on automated tools. Use the available tools to parcel your time wisely for managing your content and your social media platforms, but do not abdicate responsibility.
Social media and blogs are a way of building relationships. Your personal touch is required to make it stand out from the crowd of similar efforts.
6. Ignoring social signs and signals
Websites and blogs should have social media sharing buttons that enable you to promote your content and receive feedback. If you’re resolutely ignoring these signs and signals, you’re missing out on a lot. Engaging customers and potential clients should be your first priority.
7. No clear strategy
Before implementing any SEO techniques, ensure that you have an effective and clear strategy in mind. Directionless efforts will bring equally directionless results.
8. Exclusive focus on rankings
If only rankings were the only thing that could propel your business to the top! While it may be tempting to look at ranking reports and pat yourselves on the back about how well you have been doing, you will know in your hearts that without solid results, you are just wasting your time.
You need to correlate ranking reports with website analytics and the behavior of traffic to the website.
9. Sole focus on Google
If you are exclusively depending on Google to bring in most of your website traffic, you are clearly making a mistake. Imagine placing all of your retirement stock in one place. Would you really do that? It is true of your website as well.
Evaluate the statistics of your website and observe how much of organic traffic arrives at your website through Google. Develop a varied traffic portfolio that will help drive traffic to your website through different channels.
10. Ignoring website design
Your website is your window to the world. How your website looks and functions speaks volumes about you. Unless you are a pro at designing websites, it is recommended that you hire a website designer. Discuss your expectations with the designer and understand their point of view as well. Consider their suggestions since they design websites for a living, and are good at what they do.
Your website should not only be aesthetically pleasing, but it should also be easy to navigate and search-engine friendly. Invest your time and money profitably instead of getting stuck in a non-productive rut.
At the same time, you should hire a good SEO specialist. This person should work along with the website designer to come up the ideal solution for your website. The two important factors – user friendliness and search engine friendliness should be kept in mind.
About the Author:
Robert Bryant is a blogger and passionate writer. He likes to write about Home Improvement, Online Marketing, Legal Issues, and SEO etc. You can follow him on Google+.
