SEO, in layperson’s terms, is the process of signaling or attracting the attention of search engines. The signaling triggers the search engine to crawl your site, looking for a given keyword or phrase. The search engine ranks your site higher on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) if it finds the appropriate quantity and spacing of given keywords or phrases.
For the inexperienced, SEO can seem like a technical minefield, and because of this, it is common practice for the amateur to hire professional SEO companies. However, because SEO changes so quickly, even the experts may use SEO techniques that were once effective but now obsolete.
For the most part, auto repair shop owners are unaware of which SEO tips are current and which need to be updated. Consequently, they will often leave SEO implementation to automotive SEO companies that specialize in the field.
Automotive SEO Defined
Automotive SEO refers to the enhancement of the quality and quantity of traffic for an auto repair website. Enhancing the quality and quantity of an automotive shops content increases the site’s visibility for search engines and ranks it higher on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
Automotive SEO is vital to any auto repair shop’s digital marketing. However, not all SEO techniques are as effective as they once were. To help you avoid using outdated, ineffective SEO techniques, we will highlight them here.
SEO Methods You Should No Longer Use
Search engines are constantly changing their search algorithms. This ensures that the search engine stays one step ahead and provides a positive user experience. Changing the algorithm is the standard operating procedure for search engines, which means that the so-called search engine experts must be vigilant to stay up to date.
For SEO experts, the changing algorithms mean having to update their SEO techniques to stay relevant and continue to rank their client’s websites highly on SERPs. Continue reading here to discover what automotive SEO techniques are outdated and should be avoided.
Below are some outdated SEO practices that should now be disregarded.
1. Keyword Density
The density of keywords refers to the number of times a keyword is used in a single page of copy. The formula for calculating keyword density is based on a single page of copy, and it is the keyword frequency (the number of times it appears) divided by the total number of words. This amount is then multiplied by 100 to create a percentage.
Previously, Google would look at keyword density to indicate that a webpage was a relevant source of information for a search query. This, however, has changed, and the Google algorithm no longer uses keyword frequency as part of its search criteria.
Keywords are still important due to their topic relevancy, but they no longer act as a ranking factor. In today’s online environment, an effective SEO plan is more concerned with content quality and delivery than keyword frequency.
2. Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing refers to the practice of inserting or stuffing a large number of keywords into website content. Keyword stuffing was the first of various SEO practices to signal search engines and raise your site ranking on SERPs.
Search engine algorithms have evolved and are no longer signaled by word quantity; search engines are more likely to punish a website by lowering its ranking on SERPs upon discovering keyword stuffing. These days the SEO value of content is judged by its quality or usefulness rather than quantity. This, of course, makes keyword stuffing useless and ineffective.
3. Article Spinning
Article spinning involves rewriting someone else’s original content to create what appears to be new original content. Article spinning takes existing words and phrases and then replaces them with alternate versions.
Article spinning is a so called black-hat tactic and definitely one of the bad SEO practices, because it fails to produce any useful information for online searchers. AI is mainly used to generate article-spinning content. In recent years, this area has seen significant advancement, and some people believe that soon AI-created content will be virtually indistinguishable from genuine human-created content.
4. Link Buying
Link Buying is one of the SEO practices that is frowned upon in the online community. In its simplest form, link buying is a form of bribery as it involves paying other high-ranking businesses to link to your site to give your website increased authority and visibility.
Earning links is the best way to increase your site’s visibility and authority. When the website for your auto repair shop provides useful, informative content, other businesses will notice this, and they will link with you for their benefit as much as yours.
5. Overusing Anchor Text
Anchor text is clickable text that appears in a hyperlink. Typically, anchor text includes keywords mirroring the page that is being linked to. For example, the keywords “outdated SEO practices” will link to a page about outdated SEO practices.
Anchor text can come in several different formats, including:
- Naked link – a link where the URL is visible to the viewers.
- Branded link – a link that displays a specific company or brand name.
- Exact match link – a link that exactly mirrors the content it is linking to.
- Headline or title page link – a link embedded on the headline or title of a copy.
Anchor text is a commonly used element in automotive SEO; in fact, it is so frequently used it is reaching the point of overkill. Some search engines have begun tagging content that they consider overly optimized.
6. Creating Keyword Pages
Creating keyword pages was once a commonly used SEO technique because it helped rank high-value keywords that target your brand. Unfortunately, Google has made several updates so that it can now recognize there are different keywords in your webpages all referring to the same topic.
Creating keyword pages has now become one of the bad SEO practices as is clearly shown by Googles efforts to prevent digital marketers from using the technique.
7. Content Stuffing
Because of the importance of content as a ranking factor, many websites have become text heavy. SEO experts quickly identified the quantity of text as a search engine signaling factor and began “stuffing” their websites with text-rich content. However, with the focus on quantity came a drop in quality. As a result, search engines are currently signaled by content quality rather than content quantity.
Key Takeaway
SEO is a crucial tool for digital marketers. However, search engine algorithms are constantly changing, meaning that SEO techniques that worked before are now obsolete and no longer effective. This post highlights SEO mistakes to avoid helping you design a fully optimized website and achieve your digital marketing goals.
Advanced Digital Automotive Group can produce the best SEO plan for your car repair website.
Creating a highly optimized website takes a lot of work and requires experience, so it is often better to leave the task to the professionals. SEO and digital marketing experts such as Advanced Digital Automotive Group, an auto repair SEO company, can design and build you a highly optimized site that includes all the latest most advanced SEO techniques. Call us now, and let’s discuss how we can help you with your digital marketing requirements
