In the world of modern marketing, search engine optimisation (SEO) is a polarising topic. While SEO corporation can come up with an effective method of promoting web traffic and consumer sales, a “bad SEO” strategy can actually hurt your business. Framing your SEO strategies without considering Google’s algorithm or its webmaster guidelines can actually damage your website’s domain authority and its relative listing in search results. So, let’s take a look at all the things you should be avoiding when creating your SEO strategy in 2018.
Avoid keyword stuffing
Refrain from using the same keywords over and over again in your digital content. Keyword stuffing is essentially piling up the same phrase in your digital copy, to the point that it actually damages the authenticity of what you are writing. It will discourage visitors from reading your content and perhaps making a purchase. At the same time, Google and other search engines will pick up that you are trying to manipulate the algorithm, punishing your listing. Instead, mention your keyword phrase a few times throughout your article, specifically in the title and opening paragraph. Try to make it sound as natural as possible.
Avoid excessive ads
Google punishes websites that have many ads at the top of the web page (above the fold), which is the part of a webpage that is visible without scrolling. Having too many ads above the fold will reflect poorly when Google ranks your website. Steer clear of too many ads and look to creating organic sales through clever SEO content.
Update content regularly
It is important to update your content regularly, since search engines will view new content with greater favourability. New, fresh content is one of the best indicators of a site’s relevancy, meaning the more original your content is, the greater the chance of your company featuring higher in Google’s listings.
Furthermore, publishing duplicate content on your website is poor for SEO. Why? This can be attributed to the fact that search engines will retain the information in their index, meaning there is no reason to index the new content on your page if it offers nothing new. However, many businesses will need to duplicate content on their website as it will benefit their readers and visitors. If this is you, ensure that you create a “no index and no follow” on those pages, ascertaining that they don’t harm your SEO standing.
Spamming social network sites
Posting links to social media sites is not bad for SEO, however, the manner in which you do it could be. Constantly spamming social media users with links in comments or messages will not improve your SEO; it will only frustrate your targeted customers and hurt your business’ reputation. By all means, send users links of your website and any other relevant pages, but be sure to include personalised, relevant information so it doesn’t just feel like the spam in their eyes.
Avoid hidden text
Hidden text, also known as invisible text, is any form of text that search engines can view but users can’t. Black hat SEO firms will use hidden text to include irrelevant keywords in the hope of boosting the page’s ranking across several search terms. This can be achieved by setting the font size to zero and changing the colour to white (on a white background) or hiding a link in the copy by attaching it to a single character (e.g. a comma).
Only use natural links
Search engines will analyse your copy as a means of ranking your page. The more links on your page, the more “relevant” your content is viewed as. However, these inbound links need to appear natural. Having irrelevant links can actually damage your SEO strategy, so engaging in practices like “link buying” are probably not great for improving your business’ credibility.