7 Local SEO Tactics That No Longer Work

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“It’s not enough to be up to date, you have to be up to tomorrow.”
― David Ben-Gurion

The quote mentioned above applies to SEO in a seemingly beautiful way. Businesses need to update themselves for today and tomorrow.

SEO is ever-evolving, so to stay afloat in the market sphere, you need to let go of old tactics and embrace the new ones as early as possible.

Look at the following 7 SEO tactics that would do more harm than good to your business today.

1. Stuffing Keywords

People used the exact keywords repeatedly on their website pages to increase traffic back in the day. For examples as shown in the below image:

Many websites also used black hat SEO strategies such as adding the main keywords excessively using the same text color as the background. It seemed to be clever of the writers, but it is one of the most annoying SEO tactics.

Besides, not using voice search intent while putting keywords in the content can be a big NO to today’s SEO tactics.

Tools to Use:

• Yoast SEO Plugin is one of the widely used tools to detect keyword stuffing.
• SEO Quake by Semrush - Get structured reports of keywords used on the page and filter your search for better results.
• Keyword Density Checker By SimilarContent - Check the keyword density of your content to avoid stuffing. The goal is to bring it down to 0.7% – 2%.

2. Sticking To Single Form Content

Back in the day, people used to read and engage with textual content. However, as we move towards a fast-paced lifestyle, people enjoy listening, watching, and reading the content. So, sticking to only one kind of content can prove disastrous for your growth.

Work on producing short-form, long-form, video-format, audios, infographics, and all sorts of mediums that would convey your message in the best way possible. Give your audience valuable content.

Keep it short sometimes but don’t hesitate to elaborate on the concepts required.

Pro Tips:

• Google tracks how long a person spends on your website after clicking on a result. The longer they stay there, the more valuable Google assumes your page is. So, provide long-form content as much as possible. Add videos and graphics to make it engaging.

• Long-form content helps build trust and authority. Bring in experts to talk about issues/topics in detail.

3. Being Inconsistent In Uploading Content

Who wouldn’t like to be associated with punctual people?

People who track when and where their content is posted on the internet win the race. Google loves to follow sites that update their content at regular intervals of time.

Additionally, it helps your audience keep track of your stories/services/products. They anticipate and look forward to the next update on your site.

So, if you’re randomly uploading content on your site, you need to stop.

Pro Tips:

• Post consistently and regularly.

Take a look at the below example where a site is producing content consistently.

• Fix when you upload your next post every day/week/month. Use Google Calendar to mark your date and prepare content accordingly.

4. Overloading The Website

Back in the day, when sites and the internet were new to everyone, people used to stuff their sites with as many elements as they could find. But, No.

You need to understand that with the increase in features, the loading time of your site suffers. With overloaded stuff on-site, your site may return 503 error that annoys the users.

Use only the required element in your website and remove the other to decrease the loading time.

Tips:

• Image Optimization tools should be your best friend as they will help optimize the images on your site without compromising the quality.
• Use tools such as Windows Resizer to make a mobile-friendly site.
• Use Moz to track your page load time.
• Use Page Speed and analyze your website’s speed.

Read: Tips to Increase Page Loading Speed

5. Buying Customer Reviews

Who doesn’t look for reviews before purchasing a product online?

Therefore, customer reviews play a massive role in determining your conversion rate. However, back in the day, when reviews were rare to find, people turned it into a commodity and bought fake reviews of their products/services.

Take a look at how some agencies were selling paid reviews online.

Buying reviews is a highly unprofessional way of making a customer base. So, seek reviews from your customers every time they buy from your site.

Besides, If You See Fake Reviews on Your Site, Follow These Tips:

• Verify the accounts of the reviewers. Make them register through either their email address or phone number.
• Promoting post-purchase solicitation makes reviews authentic and trustworthy.
• Choosing a certified partner takes away the stress of analyzing fake reviews.
• Collecting customer reviews continuously is the top-notch method to build e-reputation.

6. Not Naming The Images

Helping google read what is there in the image is a recent SEO tactic. Back in the day, people used to upload images and other media with random names.

Today, you need to save the file with relevant information about the image and add alt text to describe the image adequately. This method helps in tracking the photos.

Take a look at this screenshot showing the difference between past and present SEO.

Pro Tip:

• Look at Google’s metric of image SEO regularly to stay updated.
• Help search engines discover your images with image XML sitemaps.
• Make your images crawlable and indexable.

Read: Image Optimization Tips (or) Image SEO tips

7. Manipulating Anchor Texts

Anchor texts are words or phrases used to link to other sites. People use “click here” or “see more” as anchor texts, which is considered a poor SEO practice as it does not tell google or the view where they are directed. Take a look at this example:

So, to make it easier for google and viewers, use anchor texts relevant to the context of the paragraph.

For Example:

• Suppose you wish to take your viewers to a site showing data about research. In that case, you can link it using an anchor text such as– “Recent data about SEO suggests” or “according to SEO researchers” or “as the SEO data indicates,” etc.
• Anchor texts will allow the viewers to click on the link to read further on the topic. Besides, such anchor texts would tell Google algorithms what your content is about.

Key Takeaways:

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• Stuffing irrelevant keywords could harm your SEO strategy.
• Sticking to a single form of content can be monotonous to the viewers.
• Inconsistency in uploading the content will lead you nowhere.
• Overloading the website increases loading time.
• Buying customer reviews is the worst you can do for your business.
• Giving random names to your images can affect your SEO score.
• Manipulating anchor text can sabotage your authority.

It’s safe to say there have been many changes in the local SEO world.

And with those changes, many SEO tactics have become irrelevant, unnecessary, or even harmful to your site.

So, if you find yourself still using any of the tactics above, it’s time to jump ship and adopt some of the newer strategies this year and next.