To keep with the Halloween theme that is a part of the month of October I have decided to write about seven SEO techniques that might have brought great results in the past but are now no longer effective. These techniques will be known as the seven ghosts of SEO.
1. Meta Keywords:
The Meta Keywords tag used to be the main tag for telling search engines what keywords were most relevant to the content of a website. A webmaster could include this tag in the head section of their website and fill it with the keywords that they wanted their site to rank for. Eventually spammers caught on to the fact that repeating keywords over and over in the Meta Keywords tag could cause their website to rank better. Google and other search engines eventually caught on to this and made a major change to their algorithms. The major change was to shift focus to links rather than Meta tags. The Meta Keywords tag no longer has an impact on search engine rankings.
2. Keyword Stuffing:
One technique used to rank well with the Meta Keywords tag was to stuff it with the targeted keywords. When algorithms were changed to go away from using Meta tags, the keyword stuffing technique migrated over to other html elements. Keyword stuffing titles, headers, alt attributes of images and page content became popular techniques for gaining improved search engine rankings. Search engine algorithms eventually caught on to keyword stuffing techniques and it is no longer an effective method for improving rankings.
3. Keyword Density:
With changes to search engine algorithms and the crack down on keyword stuffing, keyword density was soon born. It was determined by webmasters and SEOs that if the keyword density of the content on a specific page of a site was in a specific percent range, that higher search engine rankings could be attained. Webmasters began adding keywords into the page content to try to get the keyword density to be what they thought was the best percent. The problem with this technique was that everyone had a different idea of what the density should be. Page content started getting written to try to include keywords in the content to get the right density which caused content to drop in quality.
Webmasters and SEOs today don’t view keyword density as it was viewed in the past. Today the best strategy is to write content for the person who might visit the site and not to attain a certain keyword density. If content is written in this manner and keywords are included in the different html elements of the page then top rankings typically follow.
4. Hidden Text:
Because content has a big impact on search engine rankings, webmasters and SEOs determined that top rankings could not be achieved if enough content was not found on the pages of a website. Modifying content to include keywords or adding content to a page can require cosmetic changes so adding hidden text caught on as a good way to get the keywords on to the pages of the website. The most common way to hide text was to make the text the same color as the background. This technique was quickly labeled as a way to deceive search engines. Using this technique today can hurt rankings rather than helping them.
5. Footer Links:
One way to get hundreds or thousands of keyword targeted links was to include a list of links in the website footer. A footer could include 20, 30, 40 links or even more. Footer links don’t have the same impact on rankings today as they did in the past.
6. Site Wide Links:
The concept was that if one link from another website could improve search engine rankings then how about many links from that same website? The concept did work for awhile and getting a couple site wide links from just a few websites did have a significant impact on rankings. Now it is no longer as effective. Getting two links or two thousand links from the same website has the same impact on search engine rankings.
7. Forum Post and Blog Comment Links:
I am always amazed to see the people continue to expend their link building efforts on these types of links. There are so many better options to spend link building efforts on. Forum posts and blog comments used to be effective ways to get links. Now websites use nofollow attributes and are much stricter when deciding on what to allow and disallow where links are concerned. Posting short and pointless comments just to drop a link back to your site often results in forum and blog accounts being banned or removed. This type of link building today is just not worth the time spent on doing it.
So there are my Seven Ghosts of SEO. I am sure that there are other SEO techniques that also could be classified as Ghosts of SEO. If you would like to add one you consider to be a “ghost”, please leave me a comment.
Wow, perfect timing!
I agree with most of it.
However, once should consider is traffic and how it effects SEO, especially if it goes from a topic-relevant site/page. Now that Google owns a lot more data about visitors and their behavior, where people go, how they got from point A to point B, and how long they stayed is, I firmly believe, factoring into the value of a site/page.
Blog comments, forum links, including from a sig, could still have value. Also, I have doubts that the search engines necessarily discount nofollow/js-redirects, etc like they once did. We have evolved and used it to our advantage, so Google and the like have had to evolve too, which may mean a de-emphasis on these old methods of shaping the linkjuice direction.
Footer links have little value and probably direct very little traffic, however I would still use them in a certain practice that I like to use. *Although I would probably put them elsewhere nowadays.
A very great post. I’ve enjoyed reading every single word of it. About the seven ghosts. You’re really right. They were effective back then, but not that effective right now. But some are very great techniques and some are not so useful and harmful. Some of it I still use it. Overall, it’s a very great post. Thanks for posting this wonderful post. More power on your further posts!
Occasionally, we can get so caught up in what the SE’s are doing that we lose sight of the big picture and what really matters which is traffic and traffic trends which ultimately will convert to customers!
This post show you haven’t done enough experiment to what you wrote. “I am always amazed to see the people continue to expend their link building efforts on these types of links”. I don’t know what type of SEO you are doing but for micro business, these type of links are still powerful.
I had a feeling that my comment about forum post links and blog comment links would get some mixed opinions. Many people still feel that spending time getting those types of links is a valuable link building activity. I am sure that the links that come from that type of link building may still have an impact on rankings. However their impact is going to be minimal compared to other forms of link building that could be done instead.
Why not seek out more credible site with relevant content to exchange links with or find a credible blog in the same industry to post a guest post on? I would take one blog post link from a credible blog in the same industry over a hundred blog comment links.
Regarding site footer links, I am not suggesting that they shouldn’t be used. They can be good for getting pages indexed in the search engines. Their impact on search engine rankings is just much less compared to what it was several years ago. Footer links can still be used but don’t over do it. Excessive amounts of links will not have a significant impact on rankings and it looks very bad on a website.
@Dustin
The point is, getting link from big and relevant sites will not be an option when you want to rank for easy keyword. Forum and blog comments backlinks are:
- Easy to get
- Do follow (forum links)
So why use a bazooka to shoot a fly?
Great post there.
careful drafting Meta tags are important too. Not largely to SE but to potential searchers. It’s like a little sales copy that capture the searchers attention at SE. Without meta desc, SE will randomly display the desc which often does not interest the searcher…
Link building no doubt is still as important, but depending on link strutures like link variety, anchor variety and many more to discuss..
I agree that form and blog comment links have little SEO value. However, I still think that contributing to the blogosphere can give you some residual benefits.
For instance, if the comments and posts that you are contributing to a blog are relevant and useful, there is a possibility that they will be shared within the blogosphere and social media realm. So, even though these comment links are not followed by the search engines, you might still gain some web traffic and increase your social reach at the same time.
In addition, posting useful guest articles in blogs and forums establishes yourself as an authority on a subject. The more you contribute information that blog readers want to share with others, the greater your presence becomes.
Meta Keywords tag no longer has an impact on search engine rankings.
Does this mean one should not write keyword meta tag?
That’s correct. There is really no point in having it on your website unless you use an internal search feature on your site that searches meta keywords tags.
It is amazing that some SEO companies continue to use keyword stuffing for their clients. I just fixed the content on a client’s website that was stuffed with keywords from their previous SEO company. With the recent Google Panda updates, it is more important than ever to write good, original content.
Nice article, Dustin.
I agree with most of your ‘ghosts’.
But still find blog commenting and being active in forums worthwhile… At least if it’s done the right way, by adding value and not just spamming.
Can you give us some alternative ways of link building?
It is amazing that some SEO companies continue to use keyword stuffing for their clients. I just fixed the content on a client’s website that was stuffed with keywords from their previous SEO company.