JAMES

RUESCH

Investor & Entrepreneur

james ruesch

8 Things Most People Forget When Doing SEO in 2016

by James Ruesch on June 16, 2016

Keyword-rich content will not boost your page's rank in the SERP

wasting time finding keywords

If your page talks about "XYZ cars" and you are trying to mention the phrase numerous times to rank for the keyword, stop it. You're just wasting your time.

Google's algorithm does not rely anymore on keyword-rich pages but follows a formula called Latent Semantic Indexing. Now, whether you write cars or vehicles or automobiles on your page, they will be seen as close in meaning and will rank for the same keyword.

So, what can you do in order to rank for a desired set of keywords?

Be plain and simple. Write in a natural tone as though you are talking to a friend or neighbor. Some optimizers forget that a website is primarily for humans and not for search engine bots. Yes, being an SEO specialist means you need to understand and learn what the bots read, but it still doesn't mean that you have to risk the quality of the site's content.

Use related words and synonyms. One SEO trick to avoid keyword stuffing or unintentionally repeating the same keyword over and over again is making use of similar terms or synonyms and words that relate to the keyword. For instance, instead of using "cars" over and over again, you can use similar terms, such as "vehicles" or "automobiles", and mention related things like Chevrolet, BMW, chassis, engine, or ignition.

More backlinks will not give you a higher ranking

After Google's Penguin update, quality became more significant than quantity. If you are lucky enough to gain even one backlink from a high-authority site, then you will be ranking way higher than other sites who have more number of backlinks than you. This just means you can't trust your site's ranking on just any backlink you are receiving.

How do you achieve high quality backlinks?

Prove your worth. The first thing you have got to do is certify that your site is commendable and worthy of valuable backlinks. High-authority websites will not consider you credible if you do not have a useful content. Your pages must contain relevant information that make people read.

Find sites with similar niche. Once you are done editing and certain that your site is something to be proud of, look for high quality and top-ranking websites that talk about topics related to your pages' subjects. Send them an effective e-mail, requesting for a backlink, and wait for their positive response.

Remember, patience is a virtue and failure is when you stop trying.

An exact-match domain is not a guarantee to be on top of the search results

Some people still believe that buying an exact-match domain like www.rentacar.com will surely rank first for the keyword "rent a car". This information is totally outdated.

If you want your website to get on top of search engines, do not rely on your domain. Improve your on-page and off-page SEO and whatever your domain is, you will surely rank better in search results. Google loves fully optimized pages and visitors prefer user-friendly interfaces that load faster on any screen, be it mobile or desktop platforms. Focus on these things more and thank me later.

Frequent updates on pages has a great impact to a site's ranking

The primary goal of search engines is to provide the best information to its users and one way to tell if it is the best is when the material is up-to-date. One hint that Google gives us is how it shows the date of a page's last update on its search results.

Google shows the date of a page's last update

Making changes to your page's content is a signal of freshness. However, don't just rearrange the words of your content. It is better to add or remove an entire segment than just moving around some elements.

Your outbound links convey what your page is all about

It is highly recommended not to link to pages that are not related to what your page is all about. Search engines read outbound links as hints of what information you are sharing to the Web. Thus, it is best to associate your page to those sites that are relevant to your niche.

Many optimizers also believe that linking out to high-authority sites give Google a signal that your page is credible and trustworthy. But remember, too many outbound links can hurt your ranking as well. These links, if not regulated properly, may be viewed as spammy especially if they are all do follows. Learn to apply rel=nofollow for safety. Too much links can also distract the readers and lure them away from the main content.

Broken links hurt your site's credibility

Always check your website for broken links because they are signs of low quality, a site that is either abandoned or unreliable. Even images that fail to appear on a page are indicators that you do not share valuable information and hence, not worthy to be shown to the public.

Google search results are localized

If your target audience is global and you want your site to be recognized in as many places as you can, do not focus or test your ranking on one location only. Some optimizers, mostly beginners, test their sites' rankings by entering the keywords on the search engine and believe that this is what appears on every search results page in any city, state, or country.

Google search results are localized

For instance, you want to promote your brand not only in United States but also in Canada. Know that these two countries have different search results and it is because Google makes sure that only useful information will be displayed for a certain location. Use an SEO tool that will analyze the ranking of your keyword on each country or location for you to be sure if your page is climbing up on the search results and if it is getting impressions from the intended population.

Fresh and quality content matters

There are so many spin writers out there who continue to scrape articles, copy them, rephrase some sentences, and post them on other sites. These plagiarists do this so they can transform an old article into a fresh one, boosting a new website's freshness factor, gaming the search engines so the site will rank higher on the results page.

Google loves fresh content and recent records

This may be effective a very long time ago, but not anymore today. Imagine the number of spun articles on the Web over the passing decades. Of course, Google's strict algorithm has found a way to regulate these irrelevant collections of information.

It is very disappointing to know that there are websites who just exist to make money, sites that copy existing articles and claim them as their own. They are forgetting the true essence of the Web.

We build sites to contribute and share information to our interconnected networks. We are not here just to make money, we are here so we can provide the world all the facts it needs. So, if you are just focusing on ranking on top of search results for monetary purposes, you are missing the point.

Create your own content and make sure it is fresh, interesting, and useful to the public. In return, you'll get what you deserve, a spot on the first page of search engines.

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