Society of Tactics

Roger Montti, of Search Engine Journal, wrote, "6 SEO Practices You Need To Stop Right Now," which has some fair points for anyone new, and perhaps old, to SEO.

1. Redundant SEO Practices
1.a Expired Domains
His first point was, Redundant SEO Practices, Expired Domains, referencing Google updates in 2003. A lot has happened since 2003, and I vaguely remember these updates and the ruffled feathers, but I have since noticed expired domains still do hold some type of magic. When I do a quick search, on Google, most of the results pointed to Search Engine Land far after the updates, by years. Danny Sullivan wrote, "Do Links From Expired Domains Count With Google?", in 2009, which asked and answered some good questions. Here are some of them:

Buying Expired Domains: Don’t Expect Credit
Buying Domains & Redirecting Links: Probably No Credit
Buying Domain & Running Web Site As Usual: Credit Likely
Getting Domains Through Acquisition: Credit Likely
Does Domain Registration Length Matter? [Probably No]

I have read a lot about this over the years, and I am not sure what to tell you, other than, maybe Google misses some domains, or maybe Google has lightened up, or maybe everyone misunderstood what happened, but for some reason, I have been and am still able to get some juice out of expired domains, and expired domain backlinks. Since reading Roger's article, I have not done a case study, or specific testing on this, but I may add it to my list.

Here is a screenshot of a section of Roger's post:


I agree with Roger that this is not a new recommendation, because as he said, I was among the first to buy them and squeeze them for more juice. I am not sure I would scratch this off the list of things to do as part of your SEO tactics.

1.b Google and Paid Links
The article next mentions, "Google and Paid Links." I agree that paid links are not a long term solution, but when used well they can provide that little extra bump you may be needing when you need it the most.

1.c Robots Index, Follow
After Paid Links, the article talks about, "Robots Index, Follow." I have never met solid SEO marketers who use the "index follow" as a means to get a site indexed. I agree, this practice is not necessary, and may be even argued it unnecessarily adds a few bytes to file size.

2. Scraping Google's Search Features
Next is, "Scraping Google’s Search Features". In this section the author says, "Scraping Google’s search features like People Also Ask and People Also Search For can be a way to get related topics to write about. But in my opinion it’s probably not a good idea to exact match those keywords across the entire website or in an entire web page." To this, I mostly agree, in that any type of keyword stuffing is frowned upon.

3. Questionable Keyword Use
The article then discusses, "Questionable Keyword Use." I kinda feel like this is a redundant item with #2, Scraping Google's Search Features, as both are keyword stuffing efforts. As mentioned above, keyword stuffing is not a great search engine optimization tactic.

4. Copy Your Competitors But Do It Better?
Next, as a no, no, the article brings up, "Copy Your Competitors But Do It Better?". By itself, this recommendation to avoid doing this is on point. If you have a brand new site with zero content and all you do is copy a competitors content, then this may not get you the desired results. However, the fact still remains that copying competition can grow your site. The better way to do this tactic is to copy multiple competitors while adding unique content as well. You do not want to be a mirror of another site, because as the author said Google may decline to index it.

5. Adding More Content Because Google
Pushing towards the end of the list is, "Adding More Content Because Google." The way this is phrased is a softball pitch to provide an answer. Even the article follows up to say to add more content but in a more natural way. So, I agree with this item, based on how it is phrased, but the key idea here is to not add content for Google, but rather to add content for the benefit of the user/viewer. If you are writing for Google, you are wrong, as any change Google makes could negate your efforts. Whereas if you write for the human end-user they will find the value today and tomorrow.

6. Basing Decisions On Research Of Millions Of Google Search Results
The final no, no is, "Basing Decisions On Research Of Millions Of Google Search Results." This is the same as the last few items combined, do not write for Google, but rather write for your intended human audience.

Overall, there are some great ideas shared in the article.

This game, like many others, is about layering. There is no one golden ticket, or silver bullet, but rather a giant mass of tactics and techniques working simultaneously and separately, in and out of unison, that propel your product forward.