Which SEO Techniques Should Be Avoided?
Improved visibility, quality traffic visiting your website, increased conversions, that is what you want from your website. Chances are everyone is providing you with advice and recommendations on how to improve your visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). While there are SEO techniques that will boost your ranking, there are also SEO techniques that should be avoided at all costs.
Keyword stuffing is a technique that was used many years ago. In those days search engines would directly match keywords entered by users to that in content. This meant that websites were flooded with keywords to boost ranking. Since then, search engines have updated their algorithms. This means that should you choose a keyword stuffing technique, your website could be penalised and your ranking could drop.
It is important that you focus on creating high quality content that includes your researched keywords naturally. Only use the keywords when they make sense. Do not force them into the content if they do not belong.
Another SEO technique that should be avoided is duplicate content. What is duplicate content? It is content that appears on numerous pages of your website or is copied from other websites. Search engines are looking for unique and relevant content, they are not interested in duplicate content that can confuse their users.
It is very important to ensure that every page of your website is unique. If you have pages that have similar content, consider rewriting the content with fresh, unique, and relevant content to improve your ranking.
We all know how important backlinks are to your SEO success. At the same time, links should be naturally secured, not purchased. When link building became popular in the 2000s, businesses started using link farms and contacting companies and buying links, this resulted in problems for the search engines. As a result, the search engines updated their algorithms, ensuring you only provide high quality links that are naturally secured from high-authority websites.
Never buy links, always secure your links by creating high quality, relevant, and informative content that is appealing to your visitors and other websites.
A big mistake that many business owners are making is ignoring the importance of mobile optimisation. Did you know more than half of online searches are now done on a mobile device? This means taking the time to create a responsive website that will work across numerous devices, with fast loading web pages and easy navigation.
Cloaking was very popular some time back, as a way to deceive the search engines. Cloaking shows content to search engines, but when a visitor arrives on the website, it shows different content. This was done to improve rankings for keywords without offering valuable and high quality content for the visitors.
Thanks to algorithm advancements, search engines can now detect cloaking and will result in penalties against your website. It can even result in you not appearing in search results at all. Rather than cloaking, focus your attention on creating high quality content, using your keywords naturally, and providing value to your visitors.
With so many articles and experts in the industry, it can become overwhelming to identify what SEO techniques you should avoid and which you should be using. Focus on avoiding the techniques listed above, focusing on providing your visitors with an excellent user experience, while providing them with relevant and high quality content.
When you stay updated with the latest algorithm updates and you know what SEO techniques to avoid, you will notice your ranking start to improve, helping to boost your brand visibility.
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