Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is significant to gain digital visibility organically. And for those who want to reach the target audience, understanding how it works for websites is essential. However, search engine algorithms consider optimised websites for ranking. But some hearsay or myths are also widely popular, misleading marketers. These myths often result in wasted resources and delayed results. Do you know what these SEO myths are?
Debunking Common SEO Myths
Here are some common SEO myths that you must know about.
1. SEO Myth: SEO is a One-Time Setup
Are you the one who believes that SEO is a one-time effort? It’s not something that you set once and forget, thinking of ongoing results. Rand Fishkin, the founder of SparkToro and an SEO veteran, has clearly stated that SEO is not merely a project but a process. As Google’s algorithms update constantly, competitors do not wait or remain still.
Reality: Well said, Mr Rand Fishkin. SEO is indeed an ongoing process. You need to update content, audit & fix technical errors, build links, and monitor everything, from Google updates to frequent changes in web traffic and ranking. The website must match the relevant updates.
2. SEO Myth: Keyword Stuffing Improves Rankings
A web page with overloaded keywords might look optimized, but it’s actually not. This is so untrue. Aleyda Solis, international SEO consultant, claims that Google is smarter. It ranks websites on the basis of context, but not just keywords. Extraordinary stuffing of keywords in the content does nothing good but only disturbs readability and rankings.
Reality: Overused keywords represent an obsolete practice, which is replaced by the natural use of keywords with variations. Its semantic relevance and quality always work well in achieving desirable exposure and ranking online.
3. SEO Myth: More Backlinks Mean Better Rankings
However, backlinks are essential in increasing traffic via SEO. Brian Dean of Backlinko subtly warns that not all backlinks are created equally.
Reality: Compare a website with 500+ irrelevant backlinks with a site having only 20 quality backlinks coming from authoritative sources. Certainly, the second one will win Google’s attention, which finds it relevant, trustworthy, and authoritative.
4. SEO Myth: Social Media Directly Affects SEO
Though likes, shares, and followers boost SEO efforts, their effect helps indirectly. Neil Patel, a digital marketing expert, has the reason. He explained that social media helps in being found online, which forms backlinks. But social signals are not a direct factor promoting its rank.
Reality: The truth is that social media helps in bridging the gap between the users and sellers. It helps in amplifying your reach, provided your content and backlinks qualify as high-quality.
5. SEO Myth: Longer Content Always Performs Better
Do you think that more words bring a higher ranking? Think twice. Though many top-ranking pages are in the topmost position, in this case also, length is not the only reason, but its optimization. Cyrus Shepard, SEO strategist at Zyppy, stressed that top ranking is not about word count but its usefulness. Google prefers the best answer, not the longest one.
Reality: Cyrus was right. You need to focus on relevant information, its clarity, and depth. A 500-word blog may answer more burning questions than a 2000-word-long article, which leads to its outperformance.
6. SEO Myth: Duplicate Content Will Get You Penalized
Do you think duplicate content attracts penalties? John Mueller, Search Advocate at Google, came out with clarification, which reveals that duplicate content is not penalized unless it is clearly manipulative. The algorithm practices indexing the most relevant version of the content.
Reality: Duplicate content can blur your online visibility. Try fixing it with canonical tags, proper redirects, or integrating a revised copy of the content to get rid of the low ranking.
7. SEO Myth: Meta Tags Don’t Matter Anymore
Some marketers think that title tags and meta descriptions are no longer valuable in SEO. Barry Schwartz, editor of Search Engine Roundtable, countered this belief, saying that they might not be ranking factors, but their role in improving CTR is undeniably crucial. This ultimately affects SEO passively.
Reality: Search engine bots recognise your content via meta titles and descriptions in the beginning. Compelling, relevant, and optimised with a primary keyword can make it more clickable.
8. SEO Myth: HTTPS is Only Needed for E-Commerce Sites
This is simply incorrect: security is for only online stores. Marie Haynes, Google penalty recovery expert, says, HTTPS is indeed a ranking signal according to Google. The security signal also attracts the trust of users.
Reality: Even if your website does not allow transactions, an HTTPS-powered website secures data, which users like, and hence, they trust to visit there. It boosts SEO energies.
9. SEO Myth: You’ll See SEO Results Overnight
SEO can do overnight miracles, and you get overwhelming traffic or leads just like a Google ad. It’s not possible. But in the long term, it actually shows the difference. According to Moz, SEO can start proving its worth between 3 and 6 months. In this case, you cannot ignore competition, domain authority, and content quality.
Reality: Certainly, SEO makes a big difference to your online exposure, leads, and conversions. But, without consistent effort, you cannot expect sustainable results.
10. SEO Myth: SEO is All About Google
However, Google is the leader with over 90% market share for searches. But Yahoo, Bing, and some other search engines are also in this marathon. Lily Ray, SEO director at Amsive Digital, clearly stated that optimizing for audiences, be it on Bing, YouTube, or even Amazon, can be helpful.
Reality: For omnichannel growth and visibility, you need to optimise landing pages according to voice searches, vertical search engines, and forums where your audience lies.
Conclusion
SEO is a technical process of optimizing your landing pages, content, and technical aspects. It helps in catering an excellent web journey to users, who in return enquire and visit the website. Their action delights search engines that reward your website with a top ranking. The aforementioned myths are just hearsay. The reality is different. This blog debunks all those SEO myths.
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