It's not working anymore: SEO tactics that have outlived their time
Sometimes things quit working. It happened with my phone last week… but I digress. SEO is a moving target, just as much an art as it is a science. Many of the SEO tactics we've used over the years have gone by the wayside, as Google refines their algorithms.
What's no longer working with SEO in 2014
Keyword stuffing – The days of pounding your primary keyword into every space imaginable are not just gone, if you still do this your page will get pounded, as far as visibility is concerned. Write for readers, not search engines, and don't hope Google won't notice all those keywords you stuffed in the footer.
Micro content – Nowadays the pages that rank on the first pages of Google are alike in that they sport longer, more in-depth content. The times when we could get by with slapping up 250-300 words of dubious quality are no longer, so far as your main blog and site pages are involved. There's a place for micro-content; such as on sites like Tumblr, Facebook along with other primarily social sites.
Article marketing – Ever since that cute little Panda descended from his tree, article directories have been insignificant. There are ways to post articles now, but they involve strategies like doc sharing sites and social pages.
No variance in keyword anchor text – Google is no longer fooled by our efforts to sway the search engine results pages (SERPs) with phony link profiles. It is much better now to obtain your links naturally, and try to get no more than 20-30% of anchor text in your main keyword. Let some Click here's, some naked URLs and other random link text make their way onto your page. This is a much more natural occurrence, and won't raise any red flags.
The lack of social media – Not so long ago, if you were completely put off by the thought of dealing with social media on your site, you didn't have to. Now, you might as well start selling shoes. (Offline) Be sure to make your posts and pages socially sharable and start your own social sites if you haven't by now.
Site-wide links – An entirely obvious link building scheme, why would anyone think it is normal to have a site link to every page? Google certainly doesn't think so.
Stop devoting time, energy and resources to what's not working now with SEO in 2014.
