To make sure their website gets noticed and rated well in Google, search engine optimization has always been a well-liked and beneficial method. However, the search engine algorithm has significantly altered nowadays, making many outdated strategies useless.
There are many SEO techniques that can help your website get to higher rankings in the search engine results page (SERP). The problem is that some of these techniques can do more harm than good. This article will review and discuss a few of the most common SEO techniques that should be avoided.
Keyword stuffing
Keyword stuffing is a technique where you insert many keywords into a long-tail keyword phrase, instead of just one. The problem with this is the search engines will ignore it and not rank your page for that term, because you’ve used too many keywords. You can’t just insert random words into any old title or description, because it’s not natural for people to use long-tail phrases like that. You have to have some degree of meaning behind them.
Broken links
Broken links are links that lead somewhere but don’t actually go anywhere. They can be anything from broken internal links to broken external links, to pages that aren’t there anymore (deleted). Broken links can hurt your rankings because they tell the search engines that your site doesn’t exist, when in fact it does! Google’s algorithm treats websites as real entities, so if you have some broken links on your site, then other pages on your site may get penalized as well – even if they’re not broken!
High Page Load Times
Another common mistake is to load up pages with irrelevant images, JavaScript, and other elements that slow down page load times and make your site difficult to browse.
Poor Mobile Search Results
It’s important to think about mobile-friendly design because more than half of all visits come from mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. However, this doesn’t mean that you should sacrifice quality for convenience; instead, focus on making sure that every aspect of your website works well on mobile devices as well as desktops and laptops. In addition, make sure that images are optimized for small screens by resizing them as necessary so they’re not blurry or pixelated when viewed at a distance or zoomed out on a wider display size like tablet computers or phablets (large-screen smartphones).
Open Site Explorer
This site should no longer be used to decide which of your pages will appear prominently for a certain keyword. The website is updated often and changes over time, frequently adding new, already-illegal techniques.
Noindex Banners
It is a common misconception that if you do not have pages indexed by Google, then the search engine will ignore you. However, this is incorrect. The fact is that Google follows and indexes all the websites on the Internet, but it doesn’t have any authority to penalise or take down a website that has been kept out of its indexing row. So, in such cases, noindex pages can be used by webmasters as they help in maintaining the integrity of their site’s content.
Keyword Density
It is an SEO strategy wherein webmasters use keywords that are too close to each other within the text of an article or page. The reason behind this is that when a searcher types in keywords related to your website, they may get confused with your content and hence go for another option. By using keyword density instead of keyword stuffing, webmasters can increase their chances of ranking higher on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Flash Movies
Flash movies are one of the most annoying aspects of search engine optimization. These are generally used to attract attention and get more traffic to your website. They are also used to show off a product or service, or just make your site look cool.
Flash movies can be beneficial for some websites, but they should only be used sparingly and with great caution. The reason for this is that flash movies will not be indexed by Google or Bing, so you won’t rank very high on those search engines when using them. In addition, many people have turned off their Flash player by default because of the high amount of pop-ups that come up on their computer when they click on a Flash movie. This can cause problems for both those who use Flash and those who don’t want it running on their computer at all times!
Flash movies also don’t work well with mobile devices like iPhones, iPads and Android phones. If you want to leverage these devices as part of your digital marketing strategy, then you should avoid using Flash movies as much as possible.
Blog Networks
Blog networks can be very useful for your blogs but you should avoid using them because they can really affect your rankings, especially if you have a lot of links coming from these sites. You should also remember that these networks are not as powerful as other social media companies and they do not have as many visitors as other sites like Facebook or Twitter.
301 Redirects
They can cause problems with search engines like Google, which is why many websites use them. The problem is that if you have a lot of pages on your site and they are all pointing to the same URL, that can lead to duplicate content issues in Google’s eyes.
If you don’t want to deal with duplicate content issues, it’s best not to use 301 redirects at all. Instead, consider using 301 forwarding, which will send a visitor from one URL to the next URL in your site (and back again).
Page Titles
Although using keywords in your page titles can help with rankings in some ways, this is no longer the case due to changes made to Google’s algorithm. Instead of adding any keywords at all, aim to keep your titles meaningful and enable people to distinguish across pages.
As you can see, many of the methods used by website owners to increase their site’s search engine ranking are no longer effective and relevant. Instead, concentrate on producing high-quality content for your audience, and only include keywords in places where they make sense and are required.
The effort you put into your website will finally result in it ranking well without suffering any negative consequences from Google if you heed my advice.