SEO… It’s not easy and is hard enough when you actually know what you’re doing.
Imagine trying to get those great results from ineffective SEO methods that are no longer useful and could end up making things worse for your website.
Unfortunately, this is the case for quite a bit of people out there who just don’t know that this is the thing that is holding them back from getting more business.
This is why we decided to give you these 11 Ineffective SEO Methods that don’t work anymore so you can quit wasting time and focus your efforts on things that work.
Cheap links
There are a lot of places on the web to buy cheap links. However, like the saying you get what you pay for, when you are buying something for a very cheap price, it is usually less effective. Almost always this will be the case when it comes to links and the cheaper the links are.
Just mentioning all the city names on your home page
People do this all the time and just list off the cities that their business serves. But doing this is not enough. If you want to rank for a city name, you will need to have an actual page with a meta title and description talking all about that city. It has gotten a lot more competitive out there and simply having the city on your page is just simply not enough anymore.
Hidden text
Yes, people are still doing this and is actually something that we’ve seen and looked into to see if it actually worked. Not much of a surprise here, but simply doing that does not work. So check out other methods to use.
Keyword match domains
Keyword match domains don’t not work, but they are much less effective than they used to be. Bing, however, still has exact match domains, but Google has gotten really good at parsing this out, so if someone tries to sell a domain through your email, for a couple of hundred bucks, don’t do it.
Pages for every keyword variant
It does not work as much as it used to because people have been doing this trying to get every variant of their company into keywords. And to be honest, you may even get an algorithmic issue because you have duplicate content because Google will use the concept of keywords (shoulder topics) and if they are like a synonym, you should just create a landing page that has all these keywords on the same page, don’t create ten.
Heavy use of keyword match on internal links
We’ve experimented with different keywords on the website and it does not change your ranking. You would think that the keyword from one website to your website would be successful, but that is not the case.
Meta tags
A lot of websites/content management systems give you the options to enter meta tags and it used to help you rank for your keywords. This is not the case anymore and you do not need to waste your time with it.
Bolding Keywords
Just bolding your keywords just looks spammy off the bat. Try to make it more about the user experience and emphasize the important elements of the content that you are providing and make it more user friendly to the reader.
Long-form content without substance
Long-form content has done very well on average, but this is because of substance. But just because you write a ton of words where you’re creating a ton of fluffy content that isn’t very useful, you are not going to do well with that. Always think about the user experience with your content and be clear with the message you are trying to get across. If you can answer it quickly, put it in the beginning, bold it, make it obvious.
Not matching intent
5 years ago, there was a post for conversion rate optimization we did, but it started ranking for file conversion optimization. That could have been the highest-ranking keyword ever but it wouldn’t have helped out business because people’s intent was not for that specific article. Talk about ineffective SEO methods.
When it comes to content, you should be looking for what people want so you can match their intent. Give the people what they want. Check out Google and see what’s ranking currently and combine the best of what’s working in your blog posts and combine those to make a better one.
Keyword stuffing
Keyword stuffing, what a topic for ineffective SEO methods. When you are using keywords, randomly sticking them into random spots is not going to work. You need a blended approach where you naturally add your keywords into the post and have it read more naturally. Google is smart, but it is not reading your mind, which is why adding in the keywords naturally towards the beginning and end of the post will help you to rank for those keywords, and not get penalized for it.
This list of ineffective SEO methods will have you well on your way to building up your SEO effectiveness.
If you’re looking for tools and different ways where you can boost your SEO, check out all of our resources in the content section of our website, or on our YouTube page. There is a ton of helpful content on there that will help you out.
If you are looking to hire a great SEO company that will do all the work for you, help us get to know you and your current situation better here.
