SEO is one of the most complex and misunderstood aspects of online marketing. There are countless myths and misconceptions about how it works, what you need to do to be successful, and what will actually hurt your ranking. If you’re new to SEO or just trying to brush up on your knowledge, it’s important to separate fact from fiction.
To help you do that, we’ve debunked some of the most common myths about SEO. Read on to learn the truth about what really works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to optimizing your website for search engines.
Myth 1: SEO is all about Keywords
Keywords are the first thing that comes into mind when people think about SEO. It’s true that keywords are important, but they’re just one part of the puzzle. If you stuff your website with too many keywords, it will actually hurt your ranking because it will appear to be spammy to search engines as well as users. In order to be successful with SEO, your website’s content needs to be well-written and relevant to your target audience. Its about how you cater to users search intent with your content. Its important to understand that when users visit a website, they’re not looking for keywords. They’re looking for answers to their questions, solutions to their problems, or information on a specific topic. Keywords are not something you “sprinkle” throughout your website like pixie dust. Keywords are to be used merely as a way to establish relevancy between what the user is looking for and what you have to offer.
With that said, website owners need to understand that Keywords ARE important, however what’s more important is – how keywords fit in the SEO puzzle. The goal of SEO is to attract relevant traffic to your website, and keywords are one way to help you do that. But if you’re only focused on keywords, you’re missing out on other important factors that can help improve your ranking, such as site structure, mobile-friendliness, user experience and creating high-quality content. To conclude, SEO is not all about keywords, although they are an important part of your optimization strategy.
Myth 2: Quantity of links is more important than Quality
Just like Keywords, backlinks are also important for SEO but have a lot of overhype and myths around the topic. A backlink is created when one website links to another. Google uses backlinks as a way to determine the quality and relevance of a website. However, its not about the quantity of links that you have, but rather the quality of those links. A quality link is a link that comes from a reputable website that is relevant to your business or industry. A link from a high-quality site tells search engines that your site is also a reputable and trustworthy source of information.
On the other hand, a low-quality link is a link that comes from a spammy or irrelevant website. These links can actually hurt your ranking because they tell search engines that your site has a bad neighborhood and thus may not be as trustworthy. Also Google is much more sophisticated now and can easily identify low-quality links.
In the past, it was all about quantity when it came to links. The more links you had, the better. But now, Google has changed its focus on quality of links entirely. Google’s John Mueller clarified it recently in a Google Search Central SEO hangout stating that – “I don’t think we differentiate like that in our systems. From my point of view, I would tend not to focus on the total number of links to your site, or the total number of domain links to your website, because we look at links in a very different way.”
The takeaway here is that you should focus on quality over quantity when it comes to link building. If you’re still only focused on getting as many links as possible, you’re actually doing more harm than good.
Myth 3: SEO is dead
This is perhaps the most popular myth about SEO. Every few years, someone declares that SEO is dead and this person is usually someone who doesn’t understand how SEO works. The truth is that SEO is very much alive and kicking. Google keeps changing its algorithm but that doesn’t mean that SEO is dead. In fact, with every algorithm update, Google keep adding new factors and adjusting the weightage of existing factors only to make sure SEO is still relevant with the arrival of new technologies and ways people use the internet.
SEO is not dead, but it has definitely evolved over the years. The way we used to do SEO 10 years ago is no longer relevant today. The techniques and strategies that used to work in the past won’t work now. That is only because the way we use Internet has changed and will continue to change. And Google’s algorithm updates are a reflection of that.
Conclusion: The bottom line is that SEO is an ever-changing field. What works today might not work tomorrow, so it’s important to stay up-to-date on the latest trends. However, two thing that will always be important are – creating quality content that is relevant to your audience, and the user experience on your website.
