Via this historical data, we can see that 89% of websites that ranked in the top 30 positions on Google seven years ago no longer rank in the top 30 today. The big question is why?
While doing some technical website audits recently, it struck me that a lot of the websites that I am reviewing are seeing declining search engine traffic because of previous Search Engine Optimization tactics.
What is unusual about these sets of websites is that the SEO recommendations that were implemented were not black hat or spammy. They were part of the SEO Playbook at that time.
But a series of Google algorithm updates have not only negated these recommendations but are hurting the websites now.
Panda: Assigned lower ranking to “low-quality” websites. In other words, sites that provide bad user experiences because of low quality, poorly written content, or bad navigation move to the bottom of search results.
Penguin and SEOPenguin: Removed “over-optimized” websites that didn’t deserve high rankings. In an effort to boost SEO, companies would buy multiple website domains and then create websites with a blog or two that linked back to the main website. Google released the Penguin update to stop this practice and ensure good user experiences.
Hummingbird and SEOHummingbird: Adapted Google’s algorithm to manage smartphone searches and voice recognition applications. These major updates now comprise the new playbook for optimizing websites. If you want to rank well on Google queries, make sure you follow the new rules and drop outdated practices.
What are the outdated tactics that could be getting you in trouble today? Here are the three most common SEO tactics that I see hurting websites now: