SEO in 2014: Techniques That Could Damage Your Rankings

Unpredictable algorithmic updates and disastrous Google penalties have changed search engine optimization as we know it.

The methods that attracted hordes and hordes of traffic to a website simply do not work anymore. In fact, onsite and offsite search engine optimization is increasingly becoming one of the most complex aspects of inbound marketing.

But of course, you really do not have to walk on eggshells. Today, the Big G is clear about black hat SEO techniques that will definitely kill your rankings:

1.      Excessive Link Building For The Sake Of It

Links are at the heart of SEO. In fact, other than the correct use of keywords, links from authority sites can drastically boost your rankings. Initially, Google would use link signals to determine a site’s authority or PageRank. But, manipulative SEO practices such as link buying and building links from sites with low domain authority have put a dump on linking as a legitimate SEO technique.

So, should you abandon links altogether?

No. Links are still important for your rankings and online visibility. However, building links should not be a goal in itself. Creating truly valuable content that people will be willing to link to should precede link building. It is also important to only link from authority sites that are related to your niche.

Avoid buying links, engaging in link networks or selling links to other bloggers. Google also recommends using the disavow tool to remove links from low quality sites.

Link building for ranking is only as effective as the quality of the links. The best links are naturally obtained from high authority sites.

2.     Guest Blogging And Article Distribution Techniques

In the past, article syndication was a legitimate way to receive back links from high PageRank sites. However, most article directories have lost their PR rankings due to the appallingly low quality content distributed to these sites. In effect, sending articles to low PR article directories to link back to your site is obviously a bad idea-it will rapidly lower your own site’s PageRank.

Guestblogging was and continues to be one of the best ways to gain online authority, natural links, social signals, and search engine rankings. But Google is now keen on penalizing sites that publish low quality guest posts and those sites that are solely dedicated to publishing large numbers of guest articles.

Here’s a snippet of what Matt Cutt said about guest blogging at the start of the year:

“Okay, I’m calling it: if you’re using guest blogging as a way to gain links in 2014, you should probably stop. Why? Because over time it’s become a more and more spammy practice, and if you’re doing a lot of guest blogging then you’re hanging out with really bad company.”

Should you completely stop guest blogging?

Yes and No.

If you are involved in guest blogging networks (sites solely dedicated to publishing guest posts in large quantities), or you are paying other bloggers to publish your posts as a link building strategy, then yes, you should stop.

However, you can cautiously continue with guest blogging as a way to build relationships and to gain authority online. Proceeding carefully means:

• Not using optimized anchor texts in your articles to link back to your site
• Not distributing too many guest posts all of which point to the same pages on your site
• Not writing crappy, low quality content and distributing it to other bloggers

Google recommends only accepting guest posts from people whom you can confidently vouch for.

3.     Anchor Text Optimization

Just like everything else in SEO, anchor texts have been misused. Today, using optimized anchor text is the surest way to incur a Google Penguin penalty. Anchor texts are exact match keywords that webmasters use to link to their sites.

For example:

One way to find best plumbers in New York is to ask for recommendations from friends. The best plumbers should be easily…

Instead of optimizing and linking with anchor texts, use long phrases that don’t have any keywords in them. For example

 “It is best to look for a hotel that is accessible to the city’s countryside.”

To boost brand awareness, you can moderately use branded keywords such as Nikke, if that’s the name of your brand and if it fits naturally within the context of the article.

Using full URLs to link back to your site also works too. For example

 “Have a look at my site www.nikke.com.”

4.     Unnatural Use of Keywords in Articles and Pages

Keyword stuffing is such an outdated practice but some online marketers still fill up their content with too many keywords.

One way to avoid overusing the same keywords is to use alternative or related phrases and words. Instead of constantly using “best plumbers in New York” throughout the article, you can use, “best plumbing services” or “New York plumbers.”

Keywords also seem overused when the content is too short. The solution is to create high quality, long form content that your readers will gain value from.

In conclusion, bad SEO techniques could give you short term results. However, in the end, the penalties could be damaging to your website and frankly, to your business. The best approach to avoid the inherent risks of optimization is to diversify your SEO efforts instead of overusing just one technique.