Fighting the SEO Myths So You Can Keep On Ranking

Intro

SEO over the years has risen to the top of the list for getting your website and internet content popularized.

However, as an ever changing entity it encounters several myths that steer people away from the possibilities of getting their content ranked.

10 Common SEO Myths You Should Ignore

Here are 10 of the most common SEO myths that are circulating these days that we want to dive into a little deeper, and may be able to debunk for you.

SEO is Dead

SEO isn’t dead so let’s dispel that myth right off the bat. However, it is in the process of changing. How could it not be since the digital world is constantly in a state of fluctuation?

The goal is always to make things more streamlined and effective, and SEO is no different. Understand that years ago there were plenty of ways to hack the system by buying links and hiding keywords in the background of your website.

These black hat techniques helped to drive traffic, but at the end of the day were dishonest and counterintuitive. If your website didn’t have the information you were promising the public it became a problem.

Google has become far more aware of these techniques and is constantly improving how they detect and penalize these websites. This is part of the change that is occuring.

Google still sees billions of searches per day, and SEO experts are still in demand especially since the algorithm demands the knowledge of a professional.

Really it demands that anyone who wants more traffic fight for specificity and white hat techniques in order to grow your website, but that is still through the process of SEO.

See how your website is ranking with our Rank Tracker.

Unsure of how SEO works? Here are some tips and tricks for a beginner.

Keyword Research is Not Important

If anything, keyword research has become more of a crucial aspect of the SEO process. Years ago when competing with fewer websites it wasn’t as key, but with the internet growing and competition more prevalent, you want to have the best keywords.

This is especially important when you consider your niche. Finding your niche is crucial, and the best way to gain attention from that niche is the proper keywords.

Ranking is another important facet of this whole keyword talk. Researching keywords can help you to understand what is ranking higher. This gives you a clearer idea of what people are actually looking for.

Sometimes with keywords you feel like you can just put what you think is popular, but that isn’t always what is popular. Proper keyword research can mean the difference between your website being on the first page of Google Search or…the tenth page.

With a competitive market, we all need help finding the right keywords. Take a look at our Keyword Finder to find the most competitive and relevant keywords.

Guest Blogging is Dead

This is absolutely untrue, however, as we discussed with SEO, Guest Blogging demands more changes and cleaner techniques in the year 2022.

Everyone is trying to rank at the top, and so there are multiple ways people will try to trick the system, however Google is getting better and picking up on these tricks and will easily penalize you if you use them.

Guest blogging these days requires more of a thought out and thorough look at the actual topics being discussed with a reasonable amount of research. It also requires that the backlinks are well researched, diverse, and are appropriate to the topic.

As Google becomes more adept at detecting less than quality content, the need for high quality blogging to get your website ranked high is becoming more of a necessity.

Only Blogs with Long Content Ranks

This myth is partially true and partially false. What truly matters is well researched content that gives the reader a reason to dwell on your page. You can have a 2,500 word article, but if it is uninformative, has bad content, and is unreadable it doesn’t really matter.

The reality is that longer content, on average, gets more backlinks, more social shares, and more organic traffic. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that writing more is going to guarantee that for your blog.

The main focus should be on engaging, well researched, and valuable content. This being said, you can have shorter content that gets you ranked, but it follows the guidelines that have been previously mentioned.

Here’s why you really need a blog calendar and how you can make one.

Meta Tags are Unnecessary

Once again we are entering muddy territory. Are they unnecessary? No. Are they necessary? Kind of. You see meta tags are keywords and phrases in the metadata, or HTML code. Some of this data has very little to do with ranking, but is still valuable when it comes to CTR.

Let’s look at the meta description, for example. The meta description for your website is about 160 characters long and serves the description for your website. Google does not look at this information for ranking purposes, however it does appear in search results.

So meta descriptions become important for Click Through Rate. The meta title, as well as Alt text (used as descriptors for images or videos), and conacle URLs all play a role in helping your website appear in SERP.

Content Isn’t Important

As we have mentioned earlier, content is KING. Content is the key to getting your website ranked, because if you don’t have valuable content, Google will recognize this and penalize your website.

This comes down to a list of important factors:

• Understand your niche
• Research research research
• Write engaging content
• Don’t add fat

Understand your Niche

If you have a clearer idea of your audience and who you are catering to, then you will have a clearer idea of what your content needs to be. With a specific aim and focus you can make content that is specific and can give value to your readers instead of writing aimlessly in the hopes someone will stumble upon and like your content.

Research Research Research

That’s right, we put that word three times to stress the importance of it. Well researched content ranks well. There’s just no getting around it.

When people get on the internet they are usually searching for information, and they want information that is reliable and quick. Google ranks content that is valuable, and that usually means well researched content.

Write Engaging Content

The type of content you are writing is also a crucial piece in this SEO puzzle, because anyone can write a 2,500 word article, but if it isn’t engaging then you will lose the reader.

Google will often look at “dwell time”, which is how long someone stays on your page. If it isn’t very long, because the content isn’t engaging, then Google doesn’t rank you very well.

Don’t Add Fat

Things like bacon fat are delicious, but sadly it doesn’t work the same way with content. The less unnecessary information the better. With your content you want to ensure that you stay on topic, and stick to the information that is crucial.

This is partially because of dwell time, but it also has to do with content relevancy. Google has its peepers out for content that isn’t relevant so keep all of your content as that delicious meat with no fat.

SEO is Just a One-Time Activity

SEO is constantly evolving, and the content that ranks is also constantly changing so it is crucial that you check in with your website periodically to make sure that it’s still ticking all of the boxes.

We also live in a culture that is constantly changing and experiencing “trends”. Competition is always trying to get a leg up. Any changes to SEO can take up to 4 months to see results, so it is a grueling process that takes time.

However, keeping up to date will ensure that your business stays in the game especially since the algorithm and search engines themselves continue to change and evolve.

Check to see the health and wellness of your website, and if it requires any fixes with our Website Audit Tool.

It’s Best to Have More Backlinks

You’ve heard the term, “quality over quantity” and in the case of backlinks this is also true. Yes, backlinks are crucial to the growth and ranking of your website, in fact it is one of the top three factors in ranking your website.

However, piling on a bunch of backlinks won’t help you to grow your website if the backlinks aren’t relevant or quality themselves. In many cases the webpages with the most backlinks don’t rank as high as some pages with a modest amount.

That being said, you still want at least 300 backlinks for your website, but you want to ensure that they are quality and relevant since Google always has their eye on backlink relevance and quality.

Want to see how your backlinks are stacking up against the competition? Check out our Backlink Checker.

Only the 'Fresh' Content is Ranked by Google

What about the veteran websites? What are they to do in this current market? Will they be ranked or are they lost forever in the sea of old websites never to be ranked again?

Although Google does enjoy fresh content, because it has a higher likelihood of being more accurate and up to date than older content, it’s important to know that older websites still have their value.

This is the reason SEO is not a one time thing, though. If you do have a veteran website that’s been around the block, you want to make sure that you are updating the content, and ensuring its relevance.

Another thing to keep in mind with fresh content is that it is generally valuable when seen as content that is trending or time sensitive. So older content, as long as it is still relevant, and accurate can still be ranked.

PPC Does Not Help in Ranking

When working in tandem, PPC and SEO can really help each other to rank your website. A lot of people like to put the two against each other, but really PPC can help you overall visibility.

For example, if someone were to see a PPC ad of your website, they may not click on it, but if you have very good SEO, and that individual then encounters your website from an organic search result, they have a higher likelihood of clicking it.

PPC and SEO together can really help your organic search results, not to mention the fact that PPC can help drive traffic to your website in general, increasing CTR and dwell time, and helping to rank your website.

Conclusion

SEO is in a state of constant change and evolution, but it’s definitely here to stay. The goal is to keep up to date on the changes and ensure that your website and business are taking the necessary steps to stay in the game.