Outdated SEO concepts are still being thought of as reality by many people. These outdated SEO concepts include, but are not limited to: the notion that all content should be written in sentence form, using keywords within texts for ranking purposes, and having a meta description on every page. The truth is these practices are no longer valid or relevant to search engine algorithms. With SEO Consulting, there are limits to how much even the most experienced SEO professional can do. As a result, it is up to businesses or individuals with limited SEO knowledge to ensure that their site is up-to-date with best practices. This post will explore why some outdated SEO concepts are now obsolete.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur trying to rank your site higher in search engines, bloggers with an established following who want to increase their traffic numbers or someone simply interested in what it takes to make a website popular online – this post has something for everyone!
Outdated SEO Concepts
1: Using Only Sentence Form for Writing Content
You might have heard the advice that you write in sentence form when writing content to rank on search engines. This advice is now outdated. For one thing, not all keywords are used letter-by-letter – some are even two words or more. This is because spam websites use letter-by-letter keywords, so if your site is written with complete sentences or without punctuation – you are less likely to be flagged as spam by search engines. There’s also the fact that spam websites still rank highly on search engines despite using sentence form content.
Some SEO experts go so far as to say that writing in sentence form is better for SEO than writing complete sentences. This is because of the way search engine algorithms analyze content. If you write in sentence form, it is essential to check your text to avoid spelling or grammar mistakes. You must also ensure that there are spaces between all words and punctuation marks. Finally, it doesn’t matter if your content is in paragraph form or full sentences. What matters is that at the end of the day, your website has original and high-quality content that people will want to read and share online.
2: Keyword Density
“Keywords must be used X number of times on a page for it to rank on search engines.” This is a myth and is no longer valid. The older SEO strategies involved using on-page keywords on webpages to attract search engine spiders and rank higher in search engines. However, as algorithms advanced, these methods became obsolete as it was easy for spam websites to manipulate them by using large numbers of on-page keywords. This practice is now considered spam, and webmasters are advised not to use such strategies anymore.
3: Using Meta Descriptions on Every Page
Did you know that meta descriptions (a summary of your website’s content that appears underneath the page title in SERPs) can also be manipulated by spam websites? Ensuring the uniqueness of all content on your website involves writing original blog posts and making sure that meta descriptions are unique. Duplicate content on your site is detrimental to SEO efforts since search engines can interpret it as trying to game the system or link spamming.
4: Using Keywords in Website Titles
The use of keywords in titles is also another practise that is now considered obsolete by SEO experts. Keyword stuffing within titles can be penalized and cause you to rank lower than your competition since it does not give a good user experience.
With the help of an SEO consulting company, you can ensure your website is always up-to-date with the latest SEO standards and techniques. An SEO expert can help you stay on top of all the changes in search engine algorithms and help you adapt your website to rank higher.
5: Linking Out to Authority Sites Will Boost Ranking
This was one of the oldest SEO practices and still works to a certain extent. However, when Google started penalizing websites for not having original content, linking out from web pages became less critical. High-quality content helps you rank better in search engines, so it’s best to focus on that rather than link building. This will also help you establish your brand online.
6: Brute Force SEO Will Rank You Higher Than Your Competitors
Search engines have become smarter to the extent that it’s almost impossible to brute force your way into higher rankings, especially with Google using machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies. It is best not to try and manipulate ranking factors for your site since you will get caught by search engines and risk getting your site banned from SERPs.
7: Linking to Competitors’ Sites
The idea is that linking to competitors will direct web traffic and link juice (a term used by SEO pros for ranking factors) away from them and towards your site. This, however, is another strategy that is now considered obsolete as Google now penalizes sites that engage in such practices. This is also considered link spamming and could get your site banned from SERPs in the future.
8: Hidden Text and Links Will Boost Ranking
Here, keywords are hidden in background colours or text that website visitors cannot see and are meant purely for search engines. This is another SEO practice that has since been penalized. Instead, focus on writing original and high-quality content which visitors will enjoy reading.
9: Keyword Rich URLs Will Boost Ranking
Getting your keywords in the URL of your webpages is also an early SEO strategy that is now considered obsolete by search engines since webmasters easily manipulated it to rank higher in SERPs than their competition. If your URLs don’t look natural and contribute to a good user experience, Google may penalize you for such practices in the future.
10: Website Speed Does Not Matter for SEO
Having a fast, responsive website is essential when Google has publicly stated that page loading speed will influence rankings. This means that if your website is slow, you will lose out to competition which offers a faster experience to users. This supports the notion that a good user experience is essential for better rankings and search engine optimization.
11: The Majority of Your Traffic Will Come from Google
No one can predict what exactly Google has up its sleeves in terms of SEO strategies. It’s best to look at your competitors for ideas and various traffic sources to understand what works best for you. The goal is to try and reach the top when searching relevant keywords, but this takes time and effort.
12: You Can Use Just One Keyword per Page
This strategy was widely used by webmasters in the past and still works to a certain extent. However, as Google continues to improve its algorithms to identify spammy practices, it is best not to focus on just one keyword per page of content and instead look at writing for the user first. This will also keep you from getting penalized by search engines.
13: You Can Cheat Your Way into Higher Rankings
SEO is all about getting links from other sites to your own. If Google detects that you have purchased or manipulated your way into having good backlinks pointing to your site, you will not be ranked highly. However, since the Panda and Penguin updates, Google has been doing a great job at identifying which links are helping webmasters cheat their way into higher rankings.
Conclusion:
Search engine optimization has come a long way over the years and continues to change as Google implements new algorithms. This means that search engine ranking factors have also changed through the years, mainly focusing on writing for users instead of just using link building techniques that give webmasters an unfair advantage against competition.
