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SEO: What You Don’t Know Could Hurt You


One thing that makes SEO such a tough job is staying on top of all the constant changes.

SEO is a living, breathing organism that is ever-changing. There are always new techniques that many SEO’s use and it continuities to be a difficult task to grow organically and stay relevant in users eyes when search engines modify their policies.

Something that might have worked yesterday may be irrelevant and old news today. Although I’m giving you some techniques that no longer work, the one thing I would like you to take away from this blog post is to pay attention to the SEO industry and stay active in the SEO community.

This will help you remain Algorithm-proof and help keep your clients happy.

Keyword Stuffing

Anytime I’m reading an old blog post and I come across something like this, “When looking for a New York Hotel, you have to remember that New York Hotels are very expensive. That’s why I use multiple sites when searching for NY Hotels to find the best deals.” What makes this sentence extremely sad is not only the poor grammar but it actually helped people rank on Google! I’m not joking, a staple SEO technique used to be jamming keywords into blog posts to help them rank. If you’re still implementing this strategy, please stop. It’s important you write content on your site that flows smoothly and there are zero inserted keywords. You want people to enjoy your blog posts, not Google bots.

Reciprocal Linking

Since link building improves your page ranks, many bloggers are now partaking in link exchanges. Although this is a great technique, Google wants you linking back to sites that are relevant to your industry. Keep in mind that you want to link to websites which are worthwhile to your visitors. Remember, everything you do for your site should enhance the experience for your existing and new visitors.

Weak Content

Something you will hear throughout the industry is content is king. There is a reason why so many SEO’s live by this saying and practice it every day. Before the major updates, Google would rank websites with thin content and that use the same wording on different pages. Google hates this stuff and there is a reason why they penalize sites for doing this now. Please make sure your site has original, unique, and informative information that is going to help the user. You will be surprised how much this will increase your ranking.

Ignoring Analytics

If you have never heard of Google Analytics or you don’t even know what Analytics means, you have a big problem on your hands. It’s very important that you check out your analytics to see what techniques you are using that is gaining you the highest amount of traffic. This can help you monitor past marketing strategies, keywords that are bringing in traffic and what content people are sharing through social media. The purpose of all of this is you want to capitalize on the type of content your visitors enjoy.

Designing for Search Engines

One of the main problems with some SEO’s is that they try taking things a little too far. They have followed all of the necessary procedures for their SEO but can take it a step too far and do silly things like over optimize. The main thing you should steer clear from is getting search engines to notice your site. This will only lead to less traffic and more frustration. Instead of doing this, write content that is accessable to your target audience. Design a more attractive website or find different ways to better appeal to users, not search engines. Also remember to keep the design simple, often times simplicity outweighs design.

If your still practicing old school SEO tricks or “black hat” SEO, this is the best way for your ranks to drop. Work hard to engage your visitors and publish content that is unique. Ensure that you’re not focusing on what search engines want but users are willing to share.

Read more posts by Derek Whitney here. Derek blogs for JenningsWire.