Top 10 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Myths
Top SEO Myth #1: All you need is a well written TITLE and META description tag, and you are fine. While it is absolutely true that a well written, keyword dense, TITLE and META description tag are one of the key factors in a well optimized web page. It is only one of several key factors. Without strong inbound linking, with a brand new domain, without relevant, keyword dense content, and other factors, except in very low competitive markets, you will have little chance of strong SEO results from only optimizing TITLE and META tags.
Top SEO Myth #2: It is impossible to get rankings on a new domain. While this is true that in the first few weeks it will be very difficult to get any rankings, even on lower competitive phrases, it is not entirely true that you cannot get any rankings in the first few months. I have firsthand SEO’d new websites and achieved decent rankings within even the first 3 months of the new domain. Of course, the most competitive phrases, will likely not be on the first page within the first 3-6 months at least. Usually it does take time. But it is not impossible to get moving in the right direction, and you should lay strong groundwork for future results as well.
Top SEO Myth #3: If you use tables, you are screwed. If you use CSS, you are screwed. If you use Javascript, you are screwed. There are coding pitfalls you must avoid, such as all flash websites. Also, it IS wise to utilize external CSS and Javascript. However, you cannot avoid all of these things. It is a matter of coding properly to avoid major problems with your website being crawled. External .jss and .css files will fix most of the problems, as well as avoiding all flash sites (you can kiss seo goodbye if you use an all flash site), but you can use tables, within reason. A combination of shallow table layouts and external css, will set you up for a successful crawl.
Top SEO Myth #4 Optimizing websites is easy. We can just hire someone or train someone in house. The fact is optimizing websites for optimal rankings, higher target traffic, and better conversion rates, is just not simple at all. There is a lot of information available on SEO online and in books. There are also many conflicting viewpoints on what makes good SEO. Without the experience to backup the theory, you are definitely going to be behind the 8 ball. If you are serious about optimizing your websites, it would be wise to do thorough research on SEO first, and perhaps read the “SEO for Dummies” book (while I highly recommend). Remember, the people who write these books specific to SEO are not theorists.
Top SEO Myth #5 – Getting to the first page in Google is impossible. Well if it were impossible, 10 websites would not be there instead of yours for every one of your key phrases! It IS possible, but SEO is time and labor intensive. It takes above all else, PATIENCE to achieve first page, or even top 3 rankings for keywords, especially ones competitive in nature. Good SEO is a combination of time, patience, on site optimization, link building, and creation of good/interesting content.
Top SEO Myth #6 – Link Building is all about emailing webmasters for reciprocal links. ERRRRRRR! Wrong! While emailing webmasters is great, first of all, you never want to focus too much on reciprocal links. You need ONE WAY links. In fact, it is even more important that you are linking from sites that are ranked well in alexa.com and have a strong google pagerank, and are reputable, as well as relevant to your site. (Hint, hint – some of the best ways to build links are from directories like yahoo directory, business.com directory, best of the web, and dmoz.org, as well as article syndications to sites like amazines.com).
Top SEO Myth #7 – If I yell at my SEO consultant or in house SEO person enough, they will get me top rankings quicker. Err! Wrong! You will only frustrate them. It is IMPOSSIBLE to dictate exactly when and where your rankings will fall. No matter how hard you work, remember there is a plateau you must deal with. Your SEO person can make all the updates to content, add all the links in the world, but rankings should only slowly progress. Now that doesn’t mean you should not see a month over month progession that is positive, but SEO is usually best reviewed quarterly, NOT daily, NOT weekly, and even monthly is sometimes too soon, although I do it monthly just for argument sake, and it is possible to see positive changes every month (although not likely to happen every single month). I like reviewing once a month because it’s not too soon, but you can many times see positive effects of the last few weeks work.
Top SEO Myth #8 – If I repeat my keywords enough over and over again, if I repeat my keywords enough, over and over again, if I repeat my… you get the point. A 3-5% or slightly higher keyword density on your pages is normally okay and considered white hat, and is necessary. However, excessive repeating of keywords anywhere on the page, to the point of a 10% or higher keyword density for a particular phrase, and you are asking for trouble. You can risk getting your entire site thrown into the sandbox or banned from search engines completely.
Top SEO Myth #9 – SEO is all about rankings. While of course SEO is largely about rankings, it is not all about rankings. SEO should be about the increases in traffic in addition to rankings. It should be about increases in lead generation and sales as a result of the efforts. A good SEO will analyze all website traffic coming in and make suggestions for improving conversion rates when possible. That might mean changing the target keyword list periodically, or suggesting some layout updates for the website, to increase the response from the traffic you actually get. So if your SEO makes a suggestion, take it seriously! They might actually know what they are talking about!
Top SEO Myth #10 – There is only one way to approach SEO. Well, there really is not. SEO is very subjective, and is ever changing because of updates to google’s algorithms that dictate rankings. However, there are a few core aspects of SEO that have remained constant for a while: On Site optimization is key, link building is key, and if you want to really get far, content is key too. I have seen websites with almost zero, I mean zero content get on page one of google for relatively competitive phrases with some good on site optimization and strong link building. Likewise, I see extremely successful websites that do not have so many links but have hundreds of pages of content.
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