What to Avoid in Post-Penguin SEO Campaigns

By the end of 2012, many former trends and practices in SEO will be effectively rendered obsolete.  While certain tactics were never seen as "white hat" and were always frowned upon by Google, algorithm updates such as Panda and Penguin are intended to phase them out entirely.

From time to time, changes in search engine algorithms are necessary to help reduce webspam and deter black hat optimizers, but those changes are becoming more frequent and are now affecting more results than ever before.  The following is a list of search engine optimization and marketing techniques which will disappear by the end of 2012:

Link Schemes
Thanks to the Penguin Update, link schemes are likely to meet their demise within the next several months.  Several major paid link networks have already shut down due to changes within Google and the effects of Penguin will likely bring an end to many more.

Keyword Stuffing
For years, keyword stuffing has been used by black hat SEOs and managed to stay under Google's radar.  Luckily, 2012 will be the last year that this practice provides results for optimizers.

Spun Articles
Low-quality "spun" articles that are rarely relevant and often unreadable by viewers are another element of black hat campaigns that Google is looking to eliminate.  Going forward, such content will be penalized by the search engine.

Internet marketing companies should revise or re-structure their existing campaigns to remove such strategies, should they currently utilize them.  Quality and relevance are the future of SEO and in the months ahead, Google plans to make webspam a thing of the past.  The changes to Google's algorithm will eliminate many search engine optimization firms that cannot adapt and effectively create a more competitive marketplace.  Designing campaigns which emphasize quality content and links is the key to success in the SERPs on the post-Penguin Web.