How Writing for SEO Has Evolved: Part 2
As mentioned in our recent blog post detailing the evolution of writing for SEO, many strategies that were once used for ranking higher in search engine results now put your website at risk. As new updates have occurred to Google’s algorithm, more and more sites are being penalized for spammy content and fraudulent Internet behavior. Popular tactics that were used just a few years ago can now cause your website to be significantly lowered in search results, if not removed completely. To prevent negative action from happening to your site, it’s important to familiarize yourself with old and new tactics as well as understand how they could affect your visibility online.
To get an idea of how SEO writing and content marketing have changed, see below for a comparison of old vs. new tactics:
Old SEO Tactics
- Repeat major keywords for a page several times for added visibility (keyword stuffing).
- Implement link schemes like buying links to be placed on other sites to enhance your ranking in search results.
- Duplicate content from another website or your own for quick results on the topic.
- Show different content to the viewer and search engine to trick the search engine to pull up content for an irrelevant topic or to disguise keyword-heavy content from the viewer (cloaking).
- Create a page with little information or value to get more traffic for a keyword.
New SEO Tactics
- Focus on weaving relevant keywords and variations of them into content through natural language.
- Prioritize SEO for the local market to help potential patients find you more easily.
- Write original content that is engaging and valuable to the reader.
- Post relevant content on a regular basis via a blog on your website to connect with readers on a more personal level.
- Share content through social media marketing for more brand exposure.
As you can see, in the past SEO focused more on keywords and increasing traffic, while today SEO is more about creating quality content for the user and sharing it regularly to reach more people. To learn more about content marketing and other factors that can impact your pagerank, feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. We look forward to helping you develop a website that is both search engine and patient friendly!