by Billy BoeyIs SEO Dead, Dying, or Shedding a New Light in 2021?
The digital world is progressing rapidly that it only takes a couple of years to turn everything 360 degrees anew. Therefore, people have to catch up with the updated technology and trend to attain better outcomes for their businesses. One of the system in question is search engine optimisation (SEO)
There are whispers from every corner of the marketing world stating that SEO is dead or barely breathing. It seems hard to believe because SEO has an estimated value of over $70 billion dollars. Which to say, SEO is not going to leave us… At least not for now or in a long time.
They may be only rumours, but in every rumours there is a diminutive truth in it… Some of them are actually referring to once-common outdated SEO tactics that do not work anymore, which as a result can actively plummet your rankings into the deep dark abyss. But not to worry, as the outdated tactics may have evolved or replaced by newer methods far better than before.
Let’s see what’s dead and alive in your SEO strategies.
5 Dead SEO Tactics
- Over-optimising On Focus Keywords
It WAS a formidable way to optimise your post but it isn’t anymore. As people now are more aware about SEO, users are able to tell if the article is user-centric or purely keyword-centric. Such keyword-centric post will hamper user experience with plenty of awkwardly phrase headline and sentences which leaves a desperate impression of harvesting keywords.
Solution: Firstly, optimise your contents for readability, user experience and more importantly is being helpful in solving user queries. While you are creating those content, place relevant high-value keywords that users can relate. Remember, Google’s main goal is to understand the intent behind the keywords, not just matching them.
- Obsessed to Be Number One
Mention SEO, and being number one on Google search engine is the first thing that comes across the marketer’s mind. It used to be effective until it got the page flooded with advertisement, disrupting the viewing of organic content. It is bad user experience. Yes, you can still be number one but what is the point if people do not click into your page anymore.
Solution: You should focus on maximising your click-through rate. Create interesting meta-description and headlines to get people clicking into your page. Ensure your content goes straight to the point of effectively solving reader’s queries, and your page will definitely be the first to look out for.
- Creating a Large Number of Post & Pages
Quality over quantity, the good old saying that never gets old. There is no point in creating many contents if it is not useful/relevant for the users. Something noteworthy, Google does not rank website, but it ranks individual web pages based on the merits of that particular page in regards to the keyword or search query.
Solution: Focus on creating high-quality, helpful content for the users. Do thorough research of a topic and create a topic-focused content on one page. That content can rank for hundreds and thousands of different keywords.
- Emphasize On Search Engines Over People
Google has come a long way and had indeed progress with more advanced evaluation of contents. Instead of optimising contents and websites for search engines, Google now places emphasis on pages with optimal user experience. Google’s goal is to provide their users with the most valuable, useful and relevant results possible.
Solution: Need we say more? Once again, create your contents and pages that benefit the users in terms of user experience and helpfulness in solving their queries. Be a more people-centric site than focusing on your own ranking, and you will eventually earn your ranks by merit.
- All Out On Building Links
Let us reiterate; Quality over quantity. Link-building remained of high importance to gain the top rank in Google search engine, but there’s an abundance of websites and an infinite amount of contents being created today that its quality has diminished. Remember, you are not the only one farming SEOs.
Solution: With an abundance of sites, Google is now looking for contents of high value. Look out for high-quality contents link as those are the ones that will be useful for users. Hence, increasing the value of your pages and posts. Quality breeds quality.
5 SEO Tactics Still Alive and Kicking
- Do Topic Research, Not Old-School Keyword Research
We reiterate for the millionth time to create high-quality content that are useful for the users. Keyword-centric research is dying now, as users want REAL contents that actually solved their queries. It is more important and smarter now to create topically relevant content. Research for relevant topics of today, create content and insert keywords relevant to the topic. That way, Google will recognise your worthiness to be at the top.
- Create High-Quality Content and Promote, Promote, Promote!
Old but gold, one of the sure-win tactics of SEO that will always remain as long as they are effective. Create high-quality content in terms of relevance to the times and how helpful and practical it is for the users to solve their daily problems. Next up, is promote those posts like crazy! For greater effect, research for pertinent pages with many backlinks and make a better content out of it and promote that to the right audience. The power of Skyscraper posts are relentless.
- Test and Boost Your Click-Through Rate
Having as much click-through rate as possible is one of the major achievements of SEO. It signifies that people are clicking into your site to view your contents. Like how first impression matters between human interaction, it is the same in SEO. Be experimental and creative with your headlines and meta-descriptions to have an enticing first-impression to gain more clicks into your page.
- Update and Repost Previous Contents
Your old contents are losing its former glory? Rest easy, all you need is to make a few updates to be relevant to the current times, some additional internal links, do more optimisation and you will see traffic growth again. It’s one of the quicker ways to generate additional traffic and clicks as older contents which are or were successful will always remain a legend.
- Focus On the Long-Term
It’s almost impossible to achieve an overnight success in SEO. It is a long-term game akin to an ultra-marathon where you need to endure and improvise many things throughout the long, arduous journey to achieve a high authority in Google. So, tackle topics that are of high value and helpful to the users, interesting social contents that are viral-worthy which means content that gets shared a lot. Those type of contents receive backlinks easily which will lift your page up the Google rank!
The SEO Carries On…
So you see, SEO is very much alive. It is the methods of optimising contents that are constantly changing in time. In order to get the best out of SEO, remember to always re-evaluate your strategies. Moreover, always keep track of the latest trend and updated Google algorithm, user experience and contemporary methods to keep your SEO rank flying higher than ever.
