April Fools: Avoid The Top SEO Mistakes
Long live April 1st. A day, filled with pranks, jokes and innocent victims. While many of you may have pushed April Fools’ Day aside long ago, the technology community still celebrates to the full effect. Google is particularly notorious for its April fool’s jokes. This year, we were victims to the Gmail Blue and Google Nose prank videos.
Even though Google gets in on the jokes on April 1st, there’s no joking when it comes to SEO. Google’s complex algorithms know when a site is legitimate or just plain fooling. Don’t look like an April fool by avoiding the major SEO mistakes. Otherwise, the joke really will be on you.
Black Hat SEO: Now You See It, Now You Don’t
Remember the days of quick fixes, fast tricks, and SEO hacks? Consider those Black Hat SEO days long gone. Keyword stuffing, link spamming, and invisible text are no longer acceptable nor tolerated practices in the SEO world. With the penguin update, Google shows its emphasis on quality links and quality content. In other words, keep the spam where it belongs—on the grocery store shelf. Since the penguin update, many sites are still suffering the ill-effects of their former SEO mistakes and bad habits.
Quality content, now more than ever, is considered the most important factor in this post-penguin world. When writing content, include relevant keywords in your copy, and put yourself in your user’s shoes. What will they be searching for? “Content should be written for users, not for search engines.. Make sure your content and site has clear value and purpose.
Additionally, diversifying anchor text throughout your site will help also help keep you from a SEO failure. In general, anchor text should not be 100% keyword rich, as it is doubtful that someone would naturally link to you with rich anchor text every time. These days, building quality SEO links tells Google that your site is legitimate and respectable. Promotions success can mean more visibility, improved brand reputation and increased traffic.
SEO Today: It’s For The People
There’s no easy fix for SEO. Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Creating the most effective SEO strategy requires patience, time and due diligence. Avoid the quick-fixes and focus on the overall SEO goals of your site. Research and understand the best SEO practices, as they can directly benefit your site. After all, a fast hack now may cost you in the long run.
Likewise, don’t get caught up in the latest SEO tricks. What may be the top trick right now may be irrelevant in a few months. It’s all about getting back to the true SEO roots of being natural, especially through the buzz of social media. There is now an emphasis on the natural, inbound links of Google Plus, Facebook and Twitter to name a few. Google monitors the natural buzz of a site with social media, making it more important than ever to deliver fresh and relevant content to your users so they can share it with the world.
Keeping these SEO tactics in mind will help create a more SEO-friendly site that avoids looking like a fool.
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