The other day I wrote a post about 4 popular SEO tactics you better not be using anymore. They are tactics that were such a huge part of SEO in the past but will, at best do nothing, and at worst penalize you moving forward.
So what should you be doing? Here are some tactics that are not only working incredibly well, but are largely future-proof.
1. Optimizing meta titles & descriptions for CTR
As has always been the case, you want your target keyword (or a close variant) in your meta title.
But we're seeing signs now that CTR in organic search is having an impact on rankings, and the two major components of your search result you can control are meta titles and descriptions.
2. Creating content to match user intent
Google is making huge strides in determining the true intent behind a search query and serving up results that match that intent as closely as possible.
The better you can match the intent behind a given search query, the more likely your content will rank at the top.
3. Pogo-stick optimization
This partly goes with creating content to match user intent but I've added it as a separate bullet point because I think it deserves to be singled out.
Google isn't watching what people do on your website, but they are watching what people do in the search results. Pogosticking is the act of bouncing back to the search results to click another result - and it suggests you didn't find what you were looking for on the first page.
Minimize the people bouncing back to search and it looks to Google like everyone is finding what they need on your site.
4. Brand awareness-building
Like it or not, the last 3 or so years of Google updates have pushed the balance of power in favor of brands.
That doesn't mean you can't still dominate a larger brand - you definitely can, simply because most of them are really slow to move and still aren't executing effective SEO strategies.
But it does mean that, all things being equal, a well-known brand will have a distinct advantage.
5. Site architecture optimization
Is your site easy to navigate? Are there too many pages? Is the information organized and presented in a way that makes it easy to find?
These things won't just help you provide your visitors with the information they're looking for effectively, but it will prevent them from pogosticking to find the information they're looking for.
