8 Old School SEO Hacks You May Want To Reconsider in 2019

It’s 2019 and if you think those practices you used to claw your way out of 2018 is not going to cut anymore. 

Remember, it’s about them, their wants and their needs. Not about you or your intentions to make a ton of money. Google doesn’t care about your revenue, they simply want to offer the most relatable and best available information to inquirers.

Although there is no one-size-fits-all SEO strategy that can deliver 100 percent guaranteed results, but that doesn’t mean we still have to live in the past, relying on old and outdated practices and techniques to boost search results. The internet is full of “Proven SEO ways to boost website rankings,” “Free SEO tools to grow your startup,” and things such as “Guaranteed SEO results” but you must never only rely on these non-genuine approaches. With search engines, especially Google, consistently making updates to their algorithm, going old school could cost you some penalties, money or even your beloved rankings, If not all of the above.

Stay above the fold and keep your SEO game competitive by having the right team and to follow the right metrics to ensure success.

In order to make your web page rank high in 2019, avoiding “hacks” or “Proven old school SEO techniques” is a great place to start, especially with the incredibly watchful eye of Google and how it consistently introduces strict penalties and regulations on those who have a hard time keeping their white hats on. So, if you are struggling to maintain traffic, make your website “Popular” and boost rankings for your web pages, one thing is for certain, be sure to avoid these 8 major old school SEO practices or you’ll end up another failed statistic.

Semantically Writing for Search Engines or Bots

Making your content natural, smooth and organically unique is the best White Hat SEO practice of 2019 and ever, period. Content is king and the way you communicate and deliver your brand’s message is crucial. Google is now smarter than ever and inserting repeated keywords by not following correct keyword density can result in future problems. For example, you keep consistently using keywords or phrases such as “best hair dryers,” “How to select a hair dryer,” or “high-quality hair dryers” in a single paragraph. This is not going to work in any case as search engines are developed to understand keyword variations or content that is specifically created for robots. So, when you’re trying to outsmart the engines with your next clever blog post, all you have to do is keep it simple, easy to read and provide value to your audience in order to keep the “Search Masters” happy.

Spinning or Rewriting Articles Is Easily Spotted

Article spinning was considered the easiest way to craft new content by recreating phrases, words and sentences. This technique is no longer effective. Google is constantly removing duplicate content for which writers need to focus on research and publish fresh articles only. Your content needs to demonstrate expertise and should be original in order to gain reader’s interest as well.

Differentiating Keywords and Giving Them Their Own Pages

When it comes to SEO initiatives and tactics, the first thing that comes to mind is keywords. Taking examples of traditional long tail keywords such as “Compare pdf,” “compare pdf documents,” pdf compare online,” and “pdf compare tools”, they are definitely not a part of SEO anymore. Search Engines are now intelligent and Google is taking the support of click signals to rank websites and documents.

Keyword stuffing, blog spam or irrelevant keywords are three of the major Black Hat SEO approaches which are strictly banned by Google. As it is aimed to deliver high-quality content to the users, the search indexes are designed to make sure no spam or plagiarized content is published. Adding too many keywords in your article will affect the readability and quality which is also known as “Keyword Stuffing” and is totally not allowed by Google. Furthermore, using irrelevant keywords to build authority can greatly affect your SEO ranking in the long term and we’re not talking for the better.

Paid Link Building Will Cost You More than Those New Shiny Links

Moving on to yet another old and outdated approach many SEO old schoolers still use is traditional link acquisition techniques, which can result in penalization from Google. Article linking directories and SEO directories must be added after proper research and evaluation as Google has banned several pages with comment links, reciprocal links and paid links in the past and continue to do so if they find any discrepancies in your SEO practices.

Furthermore, if you are “forcing” or “dragging” a lot of people to visit your page or site without any content, you’ll run into more than just a few issues. All you have to do is create attractive titles and interesting copy for your content marketing purposes instead of focusing on useless link baiting approaches.

When buying links, there are a few things that you can watch out for in order to minimize potential penalization and that is by looking at the post itself. Is there a “guest post” or “sponsored” mentioning? If there is run because these are known penalizing factors.

While many of the traditional link building methods like using directories and paying for bulk links have started to be penalized, there are a few key techniques that are still viable in today’s SEO world, however, you have to know what you are doing, how to do it correctly and most importantly, if you’re having to seek help beyond your team, ensure that you are using a pro because cutting corners in this department can have drastically negative impacts on your site. Either you do it the right way or just leave it alone. The risks may not be worth it unless you are willing to invest time and/or money in to doing it the right way.

While it can be frustrating to figure out which paid link building tactics actually work, finding a professional may be your saving grace. Drop us a line and we’ll get the job done right.

Overusing Internal Links Makes You Look Non-credible.

Although using anchor texts on internal links was considered a positive SEO approach back in the day, Google has introduced strict regulations related to keywords, descriptions and internal links. Even if you are completing the activity in a relevant and natural manner for the text, there are high chances that your web page could be penalized by Google. Furthermore, anchor texts must be in clear and visible format so that readers can understand the text without any hassle.

For example, adding a long list of unrelated links combined with supporting content can eventually end in getting your website banned.

Using Multiple Domains For Keyword Targeting

In the past, writers and companies used to operate multiple websites based on their target keyword. Perhaps you’re guilty of using your specific keyword on a single domain name and publish all of the relevant content, products, services or solutions at a single website. When keywords flow well together, your domain name will automatically become memorable and get regular traffic in a short period of time.

For instance, you own an interior decoration firm and use duplicate domain names such as “bestinteriors.com”, “sleekinterior.com” or “topinteriordecorators.com” can generally end you up in being penalized by Google as this can come off as building a private traffic network.

Adding Press Releases is a Thing of the Past

Creating multiple press releases associated with your brand name or service is definitely not something Google will be tolerating anymore. As anyone can write and publish a press release, it is now considered as an unreliable practice to boost your page rankings. Additionally, Google also penalizes spamming press releases and issues penalty against websites following this practice.

Poor and Duplicate Content will Lead Your Site to the Slaughter House

Last but not least, we are ending up this article with the most important SEO practice that you’ll need to steer clear of in 2019 if you’re looking to upgrade your SEO strategy. Forever gone are the days of publishing copied content into your new websites as Google immediately removes websites having plagiarized content. Google also implements new algorithms which automatically detects and removed copied texts. No one ever said developing quality content that is unique and catchy has to be rocket science. Developing interesting and action-provoking copy should require some efforts. you must always struggle to publish engaging and interesting content on regular basis.

Not only will this help you in boosting your page rankings and to aid in efforts to grow your startup in a smart progressive manner, but you also get regular traffic and increased number of subscribers in a short period of time. Don’t repeat keywords for example “Plastic bottles plastic bottles” and never add unrelated keywords such as “Plastic bottles are best to store hot water in winters” as it certainly gives an odd feeling and damages your credibility as an expert in your field.

Wrapping Up the No-No Hacks for 2019.

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is an essential aspect that can change the performance, acceptance and rankings over major search engines such as Google. So, if you are determined to achieve the most out of your business or services, keeping your website away from what hacks we mentioned (be careful because we did not list them all) above is most certainly a strong starting position.