Just like in life, there are no shortcuts.

No cheap product or sleazy SEO guru will skyrocket you to the top of the rankings. You can’t fool or trick your way to the top.

Google’s algorithm changes constantly. You can’t game the system forever.

Here are 3 bad SEO tactics that you need to avoid or stop now!

1. Blog Comments

Blog comments are great for meeting people.

You can make relationships, have a spirited debate and show appreciation for bloggers you follow.

But as an SEO tactic? Don’t waste your time.

They’ve been so abused over the years that they’re practically worthless now.

They’re very high effort, but extremely low value.

And most are tagged “No Follow”. This tells search engines not to follow these links!

Ask potential SEO’s about their link building tactics.

Are blog comments part of this? If so, then it’s time to find new SEO advice.

2. Article Marketing

Article marketing was hot a few years ago. Everyone was scraping content or copy and pasting articles to as many sources as possible.

Affilate marketers were usually the worst offenders. The promise you quick riches and fast results. These people usually build worthless sites and use every black hat tactic they can find.

There are a ton of software or products out there that will promise to submit articles to hundreds of websites.

Does this really sound like a smart strategy?

All of the articles that are submitted to these sites will be considered duplicate content.

That means that it won’t be unique, original, helpful or valuable. Basically, it won’t help you.

And any links you acquire from these sites aren’t valuable either.

Google doesn’t value these links highly. Most of these article sites were penalized by Google’s Panda update, and they will continue to lose influence in the future.

So these links will be worthless one day. Then you’re back to square one.

3. Buying links

Buying links is one of the more egregious, black hat tactics.

Tons of people do it everyday, and less reputable SEO’s use it as their main source of link building.

I don’t think they’re worth the risk.

Google has said in the past they will penalize your site or completely drop you from the rankings all together.

The same applies for swapping links.

Exchanging links with a few business colleagues is one thing. But if you’re main link building strategy is by submitting to link exchange sites or acquiring links from lots of low value websites, then you will be penalized.

I can tell in five minutes if you’re exchanging or buying links. And I’m not as smart as Google.

What should you do instead?

Start with good advice and a sound strategy, create content that gets attention, use smart SEO tactics that leverage your time, and connect with others daily and build relationships over time.

But that sounds time consuming. These “bad SEO tactics” promise results immediatley. That sounds easy.

Internet marketing is work. There are no shortcuts.

Use the right strategies, or pay the consequences.

4 Common SEO Mistakes that Will Hurt Your Rankings this Year

Enter your name and email below to get a free on-demand video about how to fix these four common mistakes:

• Mistake #1: Relying on a “Head” Keyword Strategy
• Mistake #2: Over-Optimizing Your Pages and Posts
• Mistake #3: Acquiring Easy, Low Value & High Risk Links
• Mistake #4: Not Using a Combination of Tactics to Boost SEO