Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 Your business’s website has been around for a while. Long enough that you’ve seen SEO become a major part of running a modern business. Only now you’re struggling on the digital front. The SEO tips you’ve learned over the years aren’t getting results any longer. Some of the SEO tools you’ve used in the past may even be doing more harm than good. It’s time to make some changes to your search engine optimization. Change is inevitable and is necessary to the longevity of any website. And if you think your SEO tools are exempt from that inevitability, you’re dead wrong. Consider this SEO Inc.’s way of getting you up to speed. We’ve been around since 1997, and we’ve seen our fair share of changes. So take it from us, from one established business to another: you need to update your SEO toolbox. Here’s a handful of free SEO tips. Let’s start making some changes for the better. (image: webseoanalytics.com) Old SEO Tricks You Should Stop Using Immediately Back in the fledgling days of internet marketing, you didn’t have the All-Seeing Eye of Google upon you. But the times have changed, and so should what were once considered the “best SEO tools” of the time. These are the website optimization tips you should stop using immediately: Keyword stuffing. Keywords are the cornerstone of all SEO campaigns. However, the way to use them have changed. No more cramming your content full of repeated ranking keywords. You won’t fool anyone with this technique anymore—especially not Google. Buying lots of links. This used to be a pretty common way to build a link profile. But with SEO being the juggernaut it is these days, buying lots of links without looking at the quality of them paints a target on your back for a Google penalty. Note: You can learn how to remove a Google penalty, but you should avoid getting one in the first place. Cloaking content. Showing users different content than what search engines actually crawl used to be an easy way to get ranked. But cheating the system like that is exactly that: cheating. It used to get results, but Google will get you for this now. Don’t do it. Proven SEO Tips that Still Work Website and SEO services have always gone hand in hand. Technical changes can affect how the search engines find your site. Some search engine optimization tools and techniques have remained effective over the years. Here are the tools you can use to get reliable and legitimate results from your SEO services: Content. “Content is king.” We hope you don’t get tired of hearing that. It’s true—content is the thing that Google pays attention to. You have a multitude of ways to promote and deliver relevant content, but it’s still one of the most important factors you can use to stay current. (Just make sure your content is actually useful to users.) Link sharing. Sharing links is not the same as buying them. You and your blogger friend can still share relevant, useful links with each other’s sites. As long as the info is related, Google might increase your link authority, giving you a boost in rankings. Effective Techniques You Need to Start Using Now What’s new to learn in the SEO world? Plenty. User experience is the driving force behind all major modern SEO campaigns. You have to engage the user and offer them a quality experience. Modern search engine optimization services are built around a combination of proven practices and the evolving demands of the public. Use these free SEO tips, courtesy of SEO Inc., to help your website reach its full potential: Blogs. Search engine spiders eat up fresh content, and there’s no better way to make sure their bellies are full than with a blog. Update two to three times a week and you’ll draw the attention of search engines and users alike to your main site. Mobile-friendliness. In case you haven’t noticed, smart devices are everywhere now. But even some sites that have been around for 10+ years aren’t optimized for mobile use. People’s attention are already hard enough to keep in today’s world. Don’t make the problem worse by giving them a slow, ugly, website that’s hard to navigate on their itty bitty phone screens. Google’s vigorous focus on mobile-friendly websites means you need to go mobile or seriously consider why you’re even trying to compete. Title tags and meta descriptions. This is your first chance at grabbing visitors’ attentions. While your old SEO tips may have prioritized putting keywords in your metas, it comes second to making these 155-160 characters engaging. You have to interest users right from the start, or they’ll scroll down to look at the other search results without even bothering with yours. What to Do Next What does anyone in their right mind do with a new set of tools? Try ‘em out, of course! Toss out your broken techniques, polish up your trusty standbys, and embrace the changes. The best SEO services are those that keep you ahead of the game, use proven techniques, and cut the ones that will get you in trouble with Google. With these tips and tools, you’re on the right track to see how successful your business’s fresh SEO campaign can be. Change is scary, but you don’t have to go it alone. We could be the best search engine optimization company you’ve ever used. If you’ll let us. So let’s make some changes. Together. Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article originally appeared on SEO Inc Blog and has been republished with permission.Find out how to syndicate your content with B2C Author: Eric SealView full profile ›More by this author:How to Increase Your Page Speed for Small Business SuccessHow to Improve Your Local Ranking with Relevance, Distance, and ProminenceHow to Improve Your Crawl Budget