They say that old habits die hard. We’ve all been victim to those persistent inclinations that we just can’t seem to leave behind, so here at WMG, we’re visiting some of the worst SEO habits.
Search marketing is always changing, because search engines are always changing. The Panda Update caused a whirlwind of panic in the SEO world, and rumours are that version 2.2 of the Panda Update has already begun. While some webmasters accuse Google are just trying to downplay 2.2 as another everyday update, we can see their point.
Changes happen all the time, so old habits need to be broken. Here are some SEO habits that you need to break out of for 2011:
Exact Phrase Anchor Text
This used to be link building gold. But 2011 is the year to retire old techniques because exact keyword anchor text is now seen as unnatural. Over time, key phrases used in link anchor text have slowly fizzled with authority and Google is wise to our old tricks.
Being able to monitor and analyse your link profile is a very important part of your strategy and there’s nothing more beneficial to your rankings than having a natural link profile. A balanced keyword distribution in your anchor text links will help search engines recognise that you’re not being spammy.
Dividing up Content to get More Pages Indexed
This is an age-old tactic for many SEOs – because the bigger your site the better. Or is that really the case? Webmasters were more than happy to apportion their content to different pages, including newly created pages to get more and more pages indexed. This will increase your visibility, right?
In 2011, things have changed a little and these tactics aren’t quite as effective. If you think you can sacrifice readability and user experience to increase visibility, Panda won’t let that happen. Each page of your website needs to have quality content, a strong sense of purpose, and a meaningful user experience in order for Google to deem it worthy.
Link Spamming
At The WebMarketing Group, we’re quite rigorous about the links that we build. It’s no longer about chasing as many links as possible and link farms are an absolute no-no. Links are valued by the authority of the sites they come from, so spending more time and effort building bespoke links is the best way to link build in 2011.
Tagged with :