Stop Using These 6 Obsolete SEO Techniques

Every year brings us new changes to search engine optimization trends. In the recent years, this has only become more noticeable as the rules and policies surrounding SEO continue to evolve. 

Still, one of the best marketing tips for your online business would be to make sure that your website is search engine optimized to ensure that you attract as many visitors to your site as possible. 

The same is true when starting a blog, especially if it's for business or profit. 

As SEO rules change though, it's inevitable for some trends to get old and obsolete. 

Here Are 6 Old Seo Techniques You Should Avoid From Now On

1. Keyword Stuffing

Keywords are important. On a post in my blog at KevinOcasio.com, I highlighted the importance of knowing which keywords to use to help you rank up. 

But keywords should never be the only focus and intention of your content. Google's policy against this may already be familiar to you. But for the sake of those who are new to SEO, let me put the examples here anyway. 

Examples of keyword stuffing include:

  • Lists of phone numbers without substantial added value
  • Blocks of text listing cities and states a webpage is trying to rank for
  • Repeating the same words or phrases so often that it sounds unnatural, for example:
    We sell custom cigar humidors. Our custom cigar humidors are handmade. If you’re thinking of buying a custom cigar humidor, please contact our custom cigar humidor specialists at [email protected].


There you go. I don't know for you, but reading that last one never fails to give me a headache. 

So what should you do? 

First of all, Google is smarter now and it understands synonyms. So use them. Diversify your words. 

Next, concentrate on producing useful, user-friendly content. Delivering value is not only a good SEO technique, it's also a really good way to attract organic visits to your site. 

2. Spammy link tactics

The more the better doesn't always apply anymore, especially where links are concerned. 

Google now focuses more on how relevant your links are instead of how many you have on your page. Overloading on links, especially links with no SEO value hurts instead of helps your website.

But still, it is undeniable that links are still one of the strongest ranking signals you can use. Used properly, link building still does help you rank up on SERPs. 

The best course of action would be to concentrate on natural link building. As much as possible avoid link buying and article spinning. Google may see these as blackhat tricks and penalize you. Also, try to use the following in moderation: 

  • Link exchanges
  • Press releases
  • Comment links
  • Forum links
  • Link directories


Instead, prefer to use active link-building. develop relationships with authority sites in your niche to get more natural links. Do email outreach and actively ask for links from high-ranking sites. 

My preferred link-building method is still guest-posting. It's how I'm able to share value to readers while I also benefit from the backlinks at the same time. 

3. One Page Per Keyword

Here's one that's really familiar.  You take one page and then fill it with every variation on a keyword you want to rank. 

The goal was to independently target each keyword and give search engine more pages to index, making your site seem more relevant. 

It worked, too. Or at least, it used to. Until Google found out how bad it was for overall user-experience and decided to deem it punishable. 

Obviously, Google prefers user intent and experience now compared to just technical SEO. That's why one keyword per page doesn't work anymore. 

So, again, focus on user experience. Write for people first and search engines second. The goal should be optimum usability. 

4. Over-optimizing your anchors

I didn't even know there was such a thing as over-optimizing. Yikes. There is though, and it's still surprisingly common. 

For instance, you want the page to rank for the keyword blogging for business, so you use that exact same phrase as your anchor. 

Sounds familiar, right? Unfortunately, Google now sees that as unnatural so that move is rapidly losing favor. Yes, using exact keywords verbatim can get you banned now. 

Instead, opt for longer keywords. Use longer phrases that fit naturally into the thought of your content. For example, instead of overusing blogging for business as anchor, how about promoting your business online instead. It's more effective as it doesn't sound forced. 

5. Cloaking

Here's another blackhat tactic that used to be able to circumvent search engine policies. 

Cloaking is showing two different contents on a single webpage: one for users and one for search engines. 

Click-baiters still use this tactic and it's quite irritating. from the search pages, they make it look like the page has exactly what you're looking for. When you click it, however, disappointment to the max. You find that the content is totally unrelated to your search.

The end-result is quite obviously a horrible user experience. And again, this is heavily punishable under Google policies. The only thing to do is to stay away from cloaking. Instead, be true to what your website is about in all aspects. Instead of tricking people, strive to make a great first impression for your website to encourage people to come back regularly. 

"Honesty is the best policy" sure never gets old. 

6. Content Swapping

I have never done this one even before, but I do see the appeal. It's obvious how it could have worked in the past when search engines were weaker and Google's policies were more lax. 

Content Swapping attempts to trick Google in these quick blackhat moves:

  1. Post a certain popular content on your site
  2. Wait for search engine spiders to crawl and index the content
  3. Make sure your site is where you want it to be on SERPs
  4. Close the page or the entire site from indexation
  5. Swap with the content that you wanted to use in the first place

Just like that, your page that for example used to contain articles about iPhone X now has articles on Android Marshmallow. Swap successful. Quick, easy and greasy. 

Google prohibits this tactic even from before. It just wasn't as quick as it is right now, so it wasn't able to catch on. 

Due to recent developments though, Google is smarter now, immediately cutting the search ranking of any page or site that cannot be indexed. 

So content swapping doesn't work anymore. 

 

In closing...

It's quite easy to fall into the trap of complacency on old SEO, especially for new bloggers and website owners. 

You're finished creating a blog or a website and it's up and running and you're done with SEO. So you leave it at that. Forever. 

No matter how good the old SEO techniques you used on your entire blog setup, the fact of the matter is that SEO trends have been changing a lot faster these days than they used to. Not updating your site or adjusting to new SEO strategies is tantamount to neglecting your website. That's the fastest way to ensure that your search engine rankings plummet southwards. 

Refrain from being complacent on old SEO tricks. Regularly scout for any updates on search engine policies and keep your eyes and ears open for any new but effective SEO techniques you can use.

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