The arrival of a new year often spells new plans that companies would like to explore in order to maximize the use of search engine optimization for online advertising. The problem is that with new plans, it is easy to get overwhelmed with interesting ideas and internet marketing strategies. To minimize your to-do list, Lindsay Wassell of SEOmoz suggests avoiding the following search engine optimization tactics in order to focus on the more essential SEO strategies.
1. There are still companies who practice black hat search engine optimization tricks. While the best thing black hat SEO tactics can give you is a temporary boost in page rankings, the worst is that you may end up penalizing yourself. Wassell advises to avoid placing white texts on white backgrounds (the same goes for black texts on black backgrounds), hiding texts with CSS, and putting links on really small texts. Hidden keywords on webpages are unethical and could cause Google to penalize your site.
2. Keyword stuffing is also a search engine optimization black hat technique. Avoid keyword stuffing by using title tags as a means of putting keywords and putting 2000 words of keyword rich context just below the footer. She also recommends staying away from filling up Meta Description with keywords, not taking into consideration click-thru rates.
3. For link-building practices, search engine optimization through reciprocal linking, link farms, link exchange, and link wheel should be avoided unless proper research has been conducted. Spam commenting on forums and blogs should likewise be avoided. In link-building, the goal is to provide helpful links consumers will find useful for the products and services they are interested in and not be bombarded with links that will only lead them to false advertising.
4. Not all pages on your website should be indexed or published. Wassell warns search engine optimization practitioners to steer clear from publishing new pages for every single keyword you think is relevant to your business.
5. Finally, a website’s strength or success cannot be measured just by PageRank. This should not be the sole measure of your website’s success. Additionally, research target keywords and not just blindly make up irrelevant ones.
This checklist will curtail unnecessary search engine optimization practices, giving you more time to concentrate on strategies that will help you reach your goals. By all means, stay away from spamming because not only is this unethical, but this will drive consumers away from your business as well.
