SEO has changed a lot during the last decade. Actually it has changed so much that many online marketers aren’t sure about which SEO strategy is indeed important and updated.This is due to the fact that search engines want to provide high quality content relevant to the search terms in search results.
With this article we will try to analyse the most important myths regarding SEO so as to keep online marketers up to date and enable them to design effective SEO strategies.
Myth # 1. The website must be submitted on Google
By using Google webmaster tools online marketers are able to submit their website on google. This does not mean that submissions on google or other search engines are obligatory in order for your website to be crawled in a short length of time. Furthermore website submission does not help your website rank better on search engines.
So, whether or not your website is submitted on Google the outcome is almost indifferent.
Myth #2. SEO is a technical issue
In the past, SEO was largely the responsibility of web designers and web developers. As time goes by and the algorithms are changing SEO is disengaged and simplified from technical issues. For instance, Google doesn’t take into consideration HTML validation. A proof is that Google has 23 HTML errors and 4 warnings.
Be aware of the fact that there are many reasons for a web site to have a valid HTML code but SEO is not one of them!!!
Myth #3. AdWords improve SEO performance.
A great variety of online marketers believe that google “helps” AdWords advertisers.
Officially the Google organic search team is independent from the paid search team and therefore Google does not favour anyone.
Myth #4. Domain age is an important ranking factor
It is true that domain age is one of the search engine ranking factors, but it is lower than it is actually believed as seniority is not necessarily of your advantage since SEO constantly evolves.
Ranking factors have been influenced by the domain age but its overall impact is very small according to Google.
Myth #5. Keyword density is the major aim on SEO
Keyword density is no longer the holy grail of SEO. It is highly recommended to include keywords or a variation of them in the headline, on the page, in the URL and at least once through the content.
But density wise, do not overdo it. Keyword stuffing might penalize your website.
Myth #6. Keywords must match exactly with the search term
Last September google introduced a new search algorithm, Google hummingbird. Google has studied search trends and had made a great effort in improving synonym identification. As a result now it is able to understand keywords that are synonyms to the search term.
Therefore exact matches are no longer critical.
Myth # 7. Meta keywords have a huge impact on SEO.
Meta keywords used to be important for the first search engines that were not able to analyse the entire page. Nowadays search engines can extract the important keywords without searching for Meta keywords.
Consequently Meta keywords no longer have a huge impact on SEO.
Myth #8. Ranking depends on Page rank
If you check the PR of websites in the first page of google search result you will notice that many sites with lower PR are on the top and sites with higher PR are towards the bottom.
Under the latest Google update, PageRank is still one of the 200 factors that determines page popularity but cannot guarantee high rankings.
Myth #9. Any back link is a good link
Apart from taking into consideration the Page rank of a link, Search engines also count the relevance of pages being linked. Google looks at the text surrounding a link to determine relevancy.
A link from a website with a very high PageRank but unrelated topic does not enhance the website’s position in the SERPs.
A link from a website with a very high PageRank but unrelated topic does not enhance the website’s position in the SERPs.
So, if a link is irrelevant to the content it is simply unimportant or in fact it may even be harmful.
Myth #10. Social media and SEO are not related
Officially google considers social media buzz as a no follow link but there are suspicions by many SEO’s regarding this statement. In addition Google+ is considered as a do follow link.
Furthermore Google+ posts are crawled and indexed almost immediately.
Myth #11. Only follow links are important
According to a penguin update, link diversity is the key to success. A balance must be kept between do follow and no follow backlinks.
Do follow links may do more for SEO but no follow links still provide valuable referral traffic, as they act as a gateway into the site.
Myth #12. SEO highly depends on ranking
Search results can be appended with rich media snippets, author tags, places etc. Because of this trend it is often noted that pages which appear below the top results get high click through rates.
So ranking is important but it is not the only way to go.
Myth #13. User experience is not important for SEO
User experience might not be a primary factor that influences SEO but it is sure that it has an indirect influence. Websites must be designed to provide a good user experience. Websites that are poorly designed, slow, have dead links and are not designed for all devices, will most likely drive visitors away.
So, user experience is very important for SEO as it reduces the overall bounce rate.
Myth #14. SEO should only focus on Google
It is an undeniable fact that google dominates the search engine industry, but a complete SEO campaign must be efficient for all the major search engines.
SEO should focus on all major search engines.
Myth #15. SEO is a one-time event
SEO is a strategy that needs to be adjusted to the changing algorithms of search engines.
So SEO is an on-going process that needs to be adapted to the evolving environment.
So SEO is an on-going process that needs to be adapted to the evolving environment.
To sum up, under the latest Google Updates, content continues to be the king. The authors must not let keyword density or backlinks rule their writing. Instead they must focus on creating fresh, friendly reading quality content that will create the conditions for qualitative link building actions.
The key is to focus on what is good for your business or your brand and what can help establish an industry authority, your goal is to expose all SEO myths!
Don’t believe in everything you hear, myths are meant to be broken.
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