Top 10 SEO Myths Everyone Should Know About
We’ve all heard SEO myths over the years – for example, SEO is dead or guarantees you a position on the first page of search results. These myths about SEO – in short, for search engine optimization – can be difficult to unravel, as these claims are highlighted by many perspectives and individual experiences.
The good news is that we can use the facts to find out which SEO claims are valid and which no longer need our attention. Let’s take a look at some SEO myths that, no matter how much is written about them, are still just myths.
- Keyword targeting became irrelevant after Google Hummingbird
Several years ago, Hummingbird changed the future of search – but its effects still exist. This has encouraged content producers to use a new way of thinking that benefits the end-user. If your keywords still appear on the first page of Google, it indicates that they are still relevant.
However, it would be wrong to say that targeting the relevant keywords in your content is no longer useful at all. Quality website content is still a clear keyword SEO strategy.
Researching and targeting keywords has actually become easier because, with Hummingbird, you don’t have to worry about fulfilling certain keyword relationships. Instead, focus on your search intentions.
- SEO is Voodoo or Snake Oil
There is a low threshold to enter the field of digital marketing, including and especially SEO. There are no real certification processes (because how can you witness something that changes every day?) And Google never publishes algorithms, so it’s not possible to check a person’s knowledge of what they contain.
Hiring an SEO service provider must be based on trust. Therefore, there is a myth that SEO is voodoo. This is because bad practitioners have done the wrong thing and the client has no other way to explain their lack of results.
- SEO is a one-time thing
SEO is a bit like going to the gym. There is a lack of training here and there, but things will soon fall apart if you eat chips at home too often. (Believe me, I know.)
This is what it looks like when you start neglecting your SEO:
- Your competitors overtake you by continuously working on their SEO.
- You start losing backlinks due to ‘link rot.’
- Your content loses ‘freshness’.
That’s why most SEO professionals (74.71%) charge a monthly maintenance fee for their services, not an hourly rate or a one-time fee. They know that SEO is an ongoing process and that their clients need to invest in the long run to see results.
There are rare cases where a website can be neglected for years and continue to increase steady traffic on a monthly basis.
- Google only ranks ‘fresh’ content
So why do we invest so much to keep our content fresh when freshness is a myth? ‘Freshness’ is a question-dependent ranking factor. This means that it counts more for one consultation than for another. It all depends on whether the freshness of the content affects the quality of the content.
Then freshness is not very important for a question like “how to tie a tie”, because the process never changes. You can add the latest reviews to your site, Rich Snippets & Schema Plugin focused on helping you publish reviews on your WordPress website.
- Social signals are a ranking factor
It’s sticky, so listen to me. Since the beginning of 2010, all search engine optimization blogs have been divided into posts on social signals. These posts had the theory that Google deeply measures everything from the number of your followers to your Instagram filter.
This usually means links: links to your articles from a social media site, and internal links that show links when you get followers from those social networking sites. We know that feedback is a key factor. We know that social networks can have a direct and indirect positive effect on communities. But here it is. The popularity of social media refers to the popularity of links, but also of Kylie Jenner. Being Kylie Jenner is not an important factor.
- Links don’t matter
Google’s Gary Illyles reminds us ten times a year that PageRank is still a major factor in Google. PageRank only relates to linking and link building. This is the core of Google’s popularity modeling. Unlike content, this is an element of Google that is hard to play. It will not go away.
It doesn’t matter how much artificial intelligence, daytime search or portable, or whatever else becomes a fashionable SEO topic of the day. Backlinks are the best input that Google needs to understand how popular something is on the internet. As long as there is the Internet, this is true.
- You Don’t Need a Sitemap
Sitemaps are not good today if you have add-ons to your sites. This will become even more important when we move to mobile algorithms in 2018. Why? If Google can’t easily navigate a part of your site, the Sitemap will help the web browser find those pages better.
Google finds it difficult to find pages in the mobile index due to the smaller size of the navigation elements. Web maps – both XML and HTML – are the best way for them to find all the pages on your website that you want to be indexed and categorized.
- Meta tags don’t matter
Meta tags are HTML tags that appear between the <head> order of the start and end order. They are used to display preview snippets of a specific web page in search results. They have meta-keyword phrases.
Although Google does not use keyword meta tags in page rankings, meta word descriptions are important and worth the time. Meta tags also attract your search results, which can attract more clicks from search users who feel that your site has quality content that meets their needs.
- PPC can’t help you rank higher
Let’s be clear: Paying Google for ads doesn’t affect rankings. I like conspiracy theories as much as the next person, but Google won’t rank you higher because you cover his pockets.
However, this does not mean that PPC cannot indirectly help you get higher. And this is because PPC ads help attract backlinks. Now, that doesn’t mean you can run an old PPC campaign and view backlinks. It must be strategic.
- SEO is all about rankings
Everyone wants to rank first, but that’s usually because they expect the very first result to get the most traffic. But this is not always true. Our study of 100,000 search queries shows that the top page gets the most search traffic only 49% of the time.
Why? Because most pages get traffic from many keywords, not just one. For example, look at the top pages of the “high protein diet.” The page in the second position gets more traffic than the first position because it has more keywords in the search query.
Final Thoughts
Is it the wide range of SEO you sell? Away from it. These are just some of the most common ones I come across again, so it’s helpful to rest them. Have I missed other disappointing myths? Ping me in the comment box.
