With the rise in the importance of social media and the crackdown on a number of black hat techniques, the SEO landscape has changed drastically over the last few years. If you haven’t updated your SEO strategy recently it’s a good idea to assess the techniques you’re using. Atomic Design has found the following strategies are outdated time wasters at best and potential disasters at worst:
1 Stop using Meta Keywords
Why you need to stop:
Search engines stopped looking at meta keywords years ago. Your top competitors are the only people who do find your meta keywords. They are most likely stealing your keywords rather than conducting their own research.
What you should be doing:
Don’t get us wrong identifying keywords and keyword phrases are just as important as they once were; they just have to be used differently. Conduct keyword research to determine which terms your visitors are using, and incorporate these phrases into your title and ALT tags, H1s and H2s, and the content itself.
2 Stop Misusing Backlinks
Why you need to stop:
It’s killing you! Backlinks hold some of the strongest search signals of any SEO tactic. There are two mistakes marketers make with backlinks; using a large amounts of low quality links or neglect to form a link building strategy altogether. Using thousands of spammy links wont improve your rankings, but it could get you in hot water with Google. Failing to find and implement backlinks is also a huge mistake!
What you should be doing:
Get more legitimate backlinks to your site by creating valuable content! Creating and sharing digital assets such as PDFs, Videos, Infographics, etc. are all great ways to start building quality backlinks.
3 Stop Mass-Producing Content
Why you need to stop:
Your content strategy should be focused on quality above quantity. There is absolutely no benefit to pumping out low quality content if no one is reading it. Stop wasting your time!
What you should be doing:
Create quality content on subjects you know so your target market will find value in what your articles. This can be a challenge, but it’s worth the investment. Set aside a few hours to create a high quality blog post a week. You can discuss industry news, address frequently asked questions, or share company information. As long as the content is valuable to your visitors, it will be well worth your time and keep visitors coming back for more!
4 Stop Avoiding Social Media
Why you need to stop:
The signal strength of social media is growing everyday. This means that it’s harder and harder for companies without a social presence to rank for Google searches. Depending on the industry, potential customers will actually lose trust in your company if you’re not on social media.
What you should be doing:
Create a Facebook page for your company and come up with some well thought out, valuable information to share with users! Rather than avoiding social media altogether, start small and manageable. We recommend that all of our clients have Facebook at the very least. Think of SEO as a race, if your competitors all have a large social presence, you’ll need to have a large presence as well in order to compete.
5 Ignoring Site Design Basics
Why you need to stop:
Factors such as user experience and site speed weigh heavily on search engine rankings. Using outdated technology and a website that doesn’t function properly on all devices may impact your revenue stream. Ignore the importance of web design at your own risk.
What you should be doing:
You may not need a new website, but your site content, landing pages, and lack of calls-to-action may be hindering your search engine marketing efforts. Consult a digital agency to see what they recommend to improve your current site to maximize search engine performance. Elements such as flash can be removed to vastly improve your site’s search engine traffic.
If you’re unsure where to start with your new SEO strategy, reach out to an established Nashville digital agency. Many will provide you with a free consultation and highlight areas of weakness with your current SEO efforts.
