The Stubborn Holdouts: SEO Tricks That Just Won’t Die

Sarah grimaced as the notification from Google’s March 2024 core algorithm update pinged her inbox. Another earth-shaking shift in the search ranks was upon them. She braced herself for frantic clients demanding to know what had happened to their hard-earned positions.

To her surprise, when she dug into the data, she found that several of her oldest SEO plays had held strong, unfazed by Google’s latest disruption. Sarah chuckled to herself, reminded that for all the whiz-bang tech and AI advancements, some optimization basics remained as potent as they were back in the day.

Years of algorithm flux had taught her not to put all her eggs in any one basket. While she strategically adopted new SEO tactics, she made sure to nurture those hardy vintage techniques that stuck around update after update. Today, we’re pulling back the curtain on a few of those stubborn holdouts that continue delivering serious SEO firepower in 2024.

The Stalwarts of Search Rankings

1. Topical Authority and Semantic SEO
   Building out comprehensive topic clusters and semantically related content has been a smart strategy for years now. But its impact has only grown in our AI-driven era of search. When you create authoritative resource hubs, you’re not just ranking for target keywords – you’re positioning yourself as the go-to source for entire topics.

   The numbers prove topical authority is sticking power personified. An Ahrefs study found that websites with a high density of semantically related content earned over 2X more organic traffic than those without a cohesive topic focus (Source: Ahrefs Content Strategy Study, 2023).

2. High-Quality Backlinks
   While Google’s ability to evaluate link quality has advanced, good old authoritative backlinks continue holding immense sway. In today’s world of BERT, links from trusted, topically relevant domains serve as major relevance boosters. In fact, pages with a high volume of quality backlinks earned over 400% more organic traffic on average (Source: Semrush Backlink Analytics Report, 2024).
3. Multimedia Optimization
   Neglecting to optimize your images, videos, podcasts, and other multimedia in 2024 is simply leaving traffic on the table. With Google’s ever-improving understanding of rich media content, assets with descriptive titles, captions, transcripts, and structureddata markup consistently achieve higher visibility.

   According to Searchmetrics data, pages featuring fully optimized multimedia assets averaged a 27% higher ranking position compared to pages without this optimization (Source: Searchmetrics Multimedia Ranking Factors Study, 2023).

The Hidden Gems

While those are a few of the old reliables, there are a couple more unsung heroes of SEO that most sites are still overlooking in 2024:

Local Listings Accuracy – Despite voice search skyrocketing, only around 18% of businesses have staked their claim across all major local listing platforms (Source: BrightLocal Local Listings Report, 2024). Konan and Spade specialize in this and can streamline the process of building accurate citations and reviews for a ranking boost.

Hreflang Tags – A mere 9% of multilingual sites leverage hreflang tags to specify language/regional targeting (Source: Sitebulb study, 2023). Yet proper hreflang implementation dramatically improves visibility in international markets. With Konan and Spade’s experts handling this, you can tap into underserved markets faster.

While algorithm changes will keep coming, mastering these tried-and-true tactics is a future-proof investment. Stay vigilant, keep learning, and never abandon what works. The true SEO greats play the long game.

Konan and Spade: Your SEO Acceleration Partners

While these classic techniques are powerful, navigating the ever-evolving SEO landscape can be complex.  That’s where Konan and Spade can help. Our team of SEO experts stays ahead of the latest algorithm changes and leverages advanced strategies to help your website achieve top rankings faster.  We’ll work with you to craft a comprehensive SEO strategy that combines the best of old-school tactics with cutting-edge approaches, ensuring your website remains visible and successful in the long run.

Remember, SEO is a marathon, not a sprint.  By focusing on these fundamental principles and staying updated on the latest trends, you can build a strong foundation for lasting SEO success.