The Learning Center
AKA... The Blog
AKA... The Blog
Halloween and search engine optimization have something in common – both can be quite frightening. With regards to SEO, many people are scared of either getting started or losing hope about half way through starting their strategy. While that is scary in its own way, that’s not the spine tingling part of SEO I’m talking about. What’s even scarier is the outdated, terrible tactics that many people and even some agencies still use.
Using these tactics will not only hurt your search rankings, but is also harmful to the reputation of your business. This Halloween and all year long, avoid these terrifying search engine optimization tactics at all costs.
Wait. Isn’t it the other way around?
Of course it’s the other way around! Yet, many people still believe that the more backlinks you generate and receive, the better off you are. If the majority of those links are crappy, how is that helping your strategy or business out?
When your SEO agency tells you that all those suspicious backlinks on your analytics report is totally fine and definitely driving ideal customers to your website, they’re playing a trick on you. My guess is that you’d rather have a treat.
You are better off having a few high quality links leading back to your website than thousands of so-so links. Think of it this way – since those links lead back to your website, your brand and business is now associated with that link. Ask yourself, “Is this link and website something my business would interact with or be associated with?” If the answer is no, what’s the point of having the link?
On the other hand, if the link is on a quality website with decent traffic, a loyal following, and valuable content for their audience and your audience, you’re all set!
*facepalm*
You’ve most likely heard that content is king. I mean, who hasn’t? While this statement is true, it’s also misleading.
Many businesses take this statement to mean that they must produce as much content as fast as they can in order to generate optimal results. When you try to increase your output of your content, the level of quality simultaneously decreases. Why? Because you have less time to dedicate to focusing on producing a great piece of content.
Search engines love content. Actually, let me rephrase that. Search engines love quality content.
Those 40 blog posts you crank out each week aren’t going to help your search efforts if they aren’t relevant to your audience. Here’s the catch, if those blogs do not resonate with or inform your audience, they won’t:
To make a long lecture short: create quality content and avoid becoming a mediocre content-generating machine.
You do want to make money, right? As a business owner, entrepreneur or individual with a business sense, I sincerely hope that you do. After all, that’s what your website and search efforts are for.
Many businesses and agencies make the mistake of writing their content towards what the search engines like.
Search engines won’t buy your products or services. Unless, you happen to work directly with Google, Yahoo, or Bing – in which case, kudos. Otherwise, your customers are human.
With that said, why write solely for a search engine? It doesn’t make sense. Of course you need to focus on your search efforts, but you also need to keep your customers (those pesky humans) in mind. When your navigation is screwy, your content is stuffed to the brim with keywords, and your website isn’t serving the best interest of your customer, I’ll bet $10 your bounce rate is high and your leads are low.
Your search marketing efforts need to take the consumer into consideration. Without doing so, your website won’t thrive and neither will your business, which may be the scariest Halloween trick ever.
This Halloween, make it your priority to treat your business to proper search efforts. Otherwise, you’ll experience the search consequences, which is one trick your business does not want on Halloween!
Titan Digital provides marketing services to businesses all throughout the United States. If your business needs digital marketing help Contact Us today.