SEO Myths

Riley Level 1

April 24, 2015, 6:52 pm

7

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SEO Myths

One of the myths that I keep hearing is how it won't matter what you write about on your site so long as you have all these backlinks. And, really what good will any backlinks or traffic be if you are not publishing articles that humans want to read. What are some other SEO myths?

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Charlotte

Charlotte

Good backlinks have always been important. Spam backlinks have not!

And, that's been true since the very beginning. And, while some got away with these spam tactics for awhile, it never lasted. Where are those spam sites now? They're long gone!

10 years ago

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richardstevens

richardstevens

5 Myths of SEO That Keep Going and Going

1. SEO Is Voodoo or Bovine Feces

Now for those of us who understand SEO, we know this is not true. We can do the same thing over and over again, albeit customized for client needs and get the results we expect. This is because search is based on an algorithm. Algorithms are math. Math means you can test against it and see what works and what doesn’t. If SEO were Voodoo or Bovine Feces this would not be possible as all we would be doing is guessing and we could never replicate our results. However, we do. We do it for clients every day.

2. SEO Is Cheap

The only reason someone like Mark E Wright of the U.K. Apprentice was able to convince an investor such as Lord Sugar (the U.K.’s Donald Trump) that a £400-a-month service would be a money maker and just needed a personal touch is because the perception of what SEO services are and what they mean.

When you hire an SEO, you are not just hiring someone who is going to change a few titles tags, throw up some links, and tweet a bit. Maybe three or four years ago you could get away with that strategy, but today it is the short road to sadness and tears and an empty bank account.

3. Audits Are Cheap

Part of the controversy of a Moz White Board Friday was played out on Sugar Rae’s blog when the author not only called everyone who was doing what Google suggested to do "Snake Oil Salesmen," but also claimed to do 300 audits a year.

4. Build It and They Will Come

If you are launching a new site or have one that has been sitting there just generating content with no link plan, stop now. A site still needs links to compete. This means you need links to your content. You need that vote that shows people like you and care about your site. Google still counts this rather highly. Unfortunately, there is this myth today that all link-building is bad - it isn’t. Link buying is bad, unless you are aware of the potential to burn your site and want to take that risk. However, link-building, which means proper link acquisition, is vital to a well-positioned and highly trafficked site.

5. Position Does Not Matter

Note I say position, because with personalization and geolocation, there is no true rank, but that does not mean it is not important. If you are hand-checking the main traffic terms for a site and see that it is on page two, how much traffic do you think it will bring? While if in #11 or #12 more than #9 or #10, but once you get to #13 you are going to fall off the graph. So while you cannot be sure that for every person your site is going to show in number three, you can be relatively sure that it will be near that position. However, if you are not trying to garner top position it won’t be there. You should know what your site is positioning at for at least your top 10 traffic generators, so you know if a slip occurs and how that slip is affecting your traffic. You will never know exactly where it is for every visitor, but you will know if your traffic slip is due to a site position loss. 5 Myths of SEO That Keep Going and Going 1. SEO Is Voodoo or Bovine Feces Now for those of us who understand SEO, we know this is not true. We can do the same thing over and over again, albeit customized for client needs and get the results we expect. This is because search is based on an algorithm. Algorithms are math. Math means you can test against it and see what works and what doesn’t. If SEO were Voodoo or Bovine Feces this would not be possible as all we would be doing is guessing and we could never replicate our results. However, we do. We do it for clients every day. 2. SEO Is Cheap The only reason someone like Mark E Wright of the U.K. Apprentice was able to convince an investor such as Lord Sugar (the U.K.’s Donald Trump) that a £400-a-month service would be a money maker and just needed a personal touch is because the perception of what SEO services are and what they mean. When you hire an SEO, you are not just hiring someone who is going to change a few titles tags, throw up some links, and tweet a bit. Maybe three or four years ago you could get away with that strategy, but today it is the short road to sadness and tears and an empty bank account. 3. Audits Are Cheap Part of the controversy of a Moz White Board Friday was played out on Sugar Rae’s blog when the author not only called everyone who was doing what Google suggested to do "Snake Oil Salesmen," but also claimed to do 300 audits a year. 4. Build It and They Will Come If you are launching a new site or have one that has been sitting there just generating content with no link plan, stop now. A site still needs links to compete. This means you need links to your content. You need that vote that shows people like you and care about your site. Google still counts this rather highly. Unfortunately, there is this myth today that all link-building is bad - it isn’t. Link buying is bad, unless you are aware of the potential to burn your site and want to take that risk. However, link-building, which means proper link acquisition, is vital to a well-positioned and highly trafficked site. 5. Position Does Not Matter Note I say position, because with personalization and geolocation, there is no true rank, but that does not mean it is not important. If you are hand-checking the main traffic terms for a site and see that it is on page two, how much traffic do you think it will bring? While if in #11 or #12 more than #9 or #10, but once you get to #13 you are going to fall off the graph. So while you cannot be sure that for every person your site is going to show in number three, you can be relatively sure that it will be near that position. However, if you are not trying to garner top position it won’t be there. You should know what your site is positioning at for at least your top 10 traffic generators, so you know if a slip occurs and how that slip is affecting your traffic. You will never know exactly where it is for every visitor, but you will know if your traffic slip is due to a site position loss.

10 years ago

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patco444

patco444

SEO changes every year.. And moreover, you can find new SEO strategies almost every single day... New websites come live, more backlink sources are available!

10 years ago

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chrismorgan

chrismorgan

Common People take SEO in a different way. Only Link are not only factor for ranking. Also by doing only Social Media you will not get a good ranking.

10 years ago

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seojesica

seojesica

Thanks, I completely agree with you..........

10 years ago

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Corzhens

Corzhens

I really don’t have any myths but I want to digress with the content which is the soul of the website. If you have no contents then that is bad for SEO and that is not a myth. That’s why the first and foremost concern with the website should be the content. If there is not new content then there is nothing to read. And when that happens, your website will be losing not only the present traffic but also the potential traffic that the search engines can give your website.

7 years ago

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