What are SEO Myths?

If an SEO agency or SEO expert promises you top rankings in advance that is the biggest SEO lie or myth, as nobody has control over Google and nobody can predict the results in advance.  SEO is extremely important for any online business and it can build your empire or break it down; it simply depends on how you use SEO methodologies to promote your business on search engines. SEO myths are generally born when people want to achieve top results in a short timeframe.

In this article we are going to discuss some of the top SEO myths related to SEO, link building, content writing, web design and social media marketing that have been around since the inception of search engine optimisation. You should always learn about SEO myths so that you can avoid making the mistakes that people generally make due to lack of SEO knowledge, which ultimately takes their SEO campaign into the wrong direction and jeopardises all efforts.

Popular SEO Myths – Many statements are associated with SEO (as listed below) but they are all myths because SEO does work but it demands time, commitment, knowledge and quality to see significant outcomes. Some non-professionals use black hat SEO methodologies such as buying hundreds of low quality links, keyword stuffing, and duplicate content from other websites which results in lower visibility of a website on search engines, and after using such tactics they start to believe SEO doesn’t work which is not true. SEO can produce good results if done properly and many businesses rely heavily on organic SEO results achieved through proper SEO approaches. SEO is neither dead nor is it a cheat, and by fooling the search engines you cannot gain top rankings. The reality is that SEO still works and helps to generate more traffic, leads and sales for businesses around the world. Below are some of the most popular myths related to SEO.

 

• SEO is fraud

• SEO is cheap

• SEO is a cheat

• SEO is dead

• SEO is a scam

• Guaranteed number 1 results

• SEO is a one-time process

• SEO is a cheaper option that PPC

• It takes 6-12 months to produce top quality results on Google

• Once you start the campaign, you will see top results immediately

• Every business website requires SEO

• Every business website must have a blog

• SEO is technical

• Anybody can do SEO

• Black hat SEO is acceptable

• Just white hat SEO is not sufficient to produce top results

• You should submit your website regularly

• Paying for Google adwords can improve your organic SEO

Promising number 1 rankings to clients in advance without studying their business model and properly analysing their website is a false statement because you cannot guarantee number 1 rankings to your client without proper research of their website model. Results are achievable (without being time bound) on Google depending on target key-terms (long tail or short tail). Unfortunately some SEO agencies and individuals do make false promises to grab money from their clients’ pockets. SEO is also not a one-time process and requires continuous efforts to get to the top of SERP’s and remain there. Google introduces new algorithms regularly to improve its search functionality and by not keeping up with the new SEO trends, you can fall behind your rivals and lose your rankings, therefore SEO is required continuously and is not time bound. 

SEO Link Building Myths – There are many myths associated with the SEO link building approach (as listed below). Link building is very important for any business as long as the links are genuine, relevant and not bought for the purpose of influencing your rankings or deceiving search engines. Link building is a very strong signal used by Google algorithms to rank websites in its search results. Statements such as “link building is dead”, “it is a risky approach”, “focus on quantity over quality”, “buy links in bulk” or “link building is bad” - are all link building myths because all of them are false statements. Link building is still relevant, is an important signal of SEO and produces quality results if done professionally in-house or by a marketing agency. Below are the popular myths associated with link building.

 

• Inbound links are dead

• Link building is a risky strategy

• Back-links are the only way to achieve top rankings

• Domain authority

• Back-links quantity is more important over quality

• Gathering a high number of links is more useful than more content

• Buy links regularly irrespective of their quality and relevance to your business niche

• Buy hundreds of back-links each month

• Building back-links is bad

• Back-links are not relevant anymore

• No-follow links have no value

• Avoid linking out to other websites

SEO Meta Data Myths – Some SEO agencies or individuals believe that Meta data is the only factor used by search engines to prioritise websites in their database, and that if you optimise just the Meta tags with certain keywords and create a separate page for each keyword, that is enough to rank high on Google - this is not true. Meta data certainly plays an important role in helping search engines understand the page but cannot help SEO entirely on its own. Stuffing keywords into Meta data can actually put a negative impact on your rankings. Meta data is an important place to define your page and should be used to put informative and relevant information. Meta tags are still relevant and do help to push your website ranking but they are not the only factor in SEO. Here are some of the typical Meta data myths:

 

• SEO is all about keywords

• Meta tags are not relevant anymore

• Domain name should be SEO friendly

• Separate page for each keyword can help to rank high

• Bold keywords can help to rank higher on search engines

• SEO is all about updating Meta tags

• High search volume keywords are the best and only keywords

• Keywords stuffing can help to rank higher on search engines

• Low search volume keywords are not important

• Keyword research is not important

SEO Content Myths – Content is very important for SEO but some people believe that content is the only factor and stuffing website pages with content can help to rank websites higher on Google. Yes, contents are important but they should be informative, relevant to the page, unique and human readable.  We have compiled a list of some myths related to content below:

 

• SEO is all about content

• Must publish content regularly

• Duplicate content within your website gets penalised

• Excessive content helps to rank higher

• Hidden content helps to rank higher

• High volume content is good for SEO

SEO Domain & Hosting Myths – Below are myths related to website design, domain and hosting. Website speed and responsiveness play a very important role in search rankings. Over the past few years Google has given priority to websites that are responsive, load quickly and are mobile devices friendly. Moving forward with technology is very important because search engines want to give the best experience to their users and rank websites accordingly in their search interface. Here are some of the popular myths associated with website design, domain and hosting:

 

• Website speed is not a ranking factor

• Website pop-ups can hurt your website rankings

• HTTPS helps to rank websites higher on search engines

• Social media puts a massive positive impact on rankings

• SEO friendly domain helps to gain top rankings

• SEO friendly URL isn’t important for SEO

• Higher number of plugins can help to rank high

• XML sitemap pushes website rankings higher

Finally, we would suggest to do things only as per Google quality guidelines, to learn about SEO first, and to not try to push too hard to achieve top rankings quickly. Use SEO as a tool to create quality pages for the online community and the rankings will follow your website.

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