5 Outdated SEO Tactics That Could Harm Your Rankings

If you’ve been working on search engine optimization (SEO) for any length of time, it may be difficult to let go of certain SEO tactics. You may think, “This tactic has worked in the past so why change it now?”

We’ll tell you why: because Google is constantly getting more sophisticated and smarter in how they rank websites, so what worked yesterday, won’t necessarily work as well (or maybe at all) today, and in some cases the old tactics may even hurt your ranking. If you insist on hanging on to those outdated tactics, you may find yourself spinning your wheels without gaining the desired results.

Ranking number one on Google’s SERP has long been the brass ring for many marketers. Being number one isn’t worth as much as it once was. You will also get real value from other traffic-driving SEO techniques.

Instead of rankings alone, also focus on SERP factors like the “featured snippet”, which is used in voice search and doesn’t need to come from a number one ranking result. Other features to focus on include image SEO, local SEO, and news SEO .

Long tail targeting (targeting longer search phrases) which targets less competitive keywords, is another way to go.

Many people tend to start their keyword research with Google’s AdWords/Keyword Planner-based tools and only then start using more sophisticated tools. The problem with this tactic is that AdWords hides a lot of keywords their algorithms don’t “think” are commercially relevant, thereby making your results inaccurate and too imprecise.

In addition, this approach lacks several critical metrics such as click-through rate percentage and ranking difficulty, which you need to consider when prioritizing keywords.

It’s better to start with a broader, more informed strategy. Try using paid tools like SEMrush or Keyword Explorer. It will cost you more upfront, but you’ll end up with more effective keywords.

Sometimes companies decide they want to dominate the first page of the SERP. To achieve this, they may decide to register separate domains or add a bunch of subdomains to their website. This tactic hasn’t worked since Google began giving priority to multiple subpages in a single SERP from one domain. I.e,, use sub-pages instead of subdomains.

Often marketers will find themselves ranking maybe fifth or tenth, and they use link building to push their way to the top. This tactic worked well a few years ago, but this alone is no longer enough. Link building is still a powerful tool, but there are other options needed to round out an effective strategy.

Instead, focus on searcher task accomplishment, user experience (UX) optimization, improving the quality and depth of content on your page, and brand growth (associating your brand with the topic or keyword).

Yes, keyword placement is still crucial, but you don’t have to spend hours and hours making sure that all the keywords are perfectly placed on your web pages in your “title tags”, headline tags, and the URL, and then repeating those keywords a certain number of times within the page text.

Given Google’s improved algorithms, a better tactic is to focus more on creating great content that includes related keywords and related topics in the body of the text, and deep content that thoroughly explains the topics, keywords, phrases, and subjects that Google knows users associate with those particular topics.

Google is getting more and more focused on providing content that solves the users’ queries, and they’re getting savvier by the day about how to make that happen, which is why using related keywords is more relevant than ever.

BOTTOM LINE:
Try replacing these outdated SEO tactics with the above strategies - you will likely be pleasantly surprised by the results!

How well are your current SEO tactics working? Use our FREE SEO Checkup . Then, call the experts at ( 484) 297-6395 or contact us online to learn how we can improve your website’s ranking the fast and easy way.

This blog is adapted from “ SEO ‘Dinosaur’ Tactics That You Should Retire.”