I gotta say that writing this blog post was a fun weird trip down memory lane. When you’ve been an SEO Consultant for as long as I have, you see a lot of funny things where people are trying to game Google, all of which is doomed to fall flat on its respective face. If you’re asking yourself “which SEO techniques should be avoided”, keep reading… We all wonder this exact question from time to time.
SEO consultants are always looking for new techniques to improve their clients’ search engine rankings. However, not all of these techniques are effective – in fact, some can actually harm your ranking and visibility. In this blog post, we will discuss which SEO techniques you should avoid if you want to maintain your website’s rank and visibility.
First… Not all stuffing is good stuffing
One of the most common and ineffective SEO techniques is keyword stuffing. This involves cramming as many keywords into your website’s content as possible, regardless of whether or not they make sense. Not only does this technique not improve your ranking, it can actually harm it. Google’s algorithms are designed to identify keyword stuffing, and will penalize websites that engage in this practice.
It doesn’t count if ya paid for it, lol
Another SEO technique that you should avoid is link buying. This is when you pay for links from other websites, in the hopes that Google will count them as votes and improve your ranking. However, Google’s algorithms are also designed to identify paid links, and will penalize websites that engage in this practice.
You’re not a wizard, Harry… you’re gonna get yourself penalized.
Next up is cloaking. Cloaking is when you serve different content to Google’s crawlers than you do to actual users. This can be done by serving different HTML code or by redirecting users to a different URL. Cloaking is an attempt to trick Google’s algorithms, and will result in a penalty if you are caught.
Low Quality Doorways
Lastly, we have doorway pages. Doorway pages are created for the sole purpose of ranking for a particular keyword or phrase. They are typically low-quality and provide little value to the user. Doorway pages will also result in a penalty from Google if they are detected.
These are just some of the SEO techniques that you should avoid if you want to maintain your website’s rank and visibility. Remember, it’s important to focus on providing quality content and a good user experience – not on trying to trick Google’s algorithms. If you do that, your ranking will take care of itself.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about SEO, feel free to contact us. We’re always happy to help! Get in touch for more information. Thanks for reading!