SEO Myths
While on Digg today, I came across a blog post that made me think about all of the SEO misconceptions out there today. The post was titled “10 things you should know before submitting your website to Google.” Some of the advice was actually decent, but I’m not sure how some one can learn about SEO with out learning that submitting your site to Google is pointless. It makes it hard for other people who are trying to learn to know what is good advice and what isn’t. So here are a few of the myths I constantly hear:
1. Submitting (and resubmitting) your site to the major search engines is the only way to become indexed.
This is just a waste of time. All you need is one link from a site that is already indexed to your site and the search engines will find you.
2. SEO = SPAM.
Sure there are spammy SEO’s out there who are ruining the name for the rest of us. But SEO is about making your site easy to find and easy to use, not spamming people’s e-mail inbox or stuffing keywords on a page.
3. META Tags are what the search engines look at to rank my site.
Maybe this used to be the case, but not anymore. It won’t help your site to stuff 20 million keywords into the keywords META tag. The only use for META tags that I’ve seen is when a search engine displays the content in the tags in their SERPs.
4. “We guarantee rankings because we have a ’special relationship’ with Google”
There’s no such thing as a company that has a special relationship with Google. We actually got a call last week from a company claiming they had a relationship with Google, but could not tell us exactly how they intended to get the results they promised.
5. “Guaranteed” top placement in search engines.
There are no guarantees when it comes to SEO. Algorithms can change, competitors could increase their SEO efforts, etc. There are too many variables to guarantee a placement in the search engines.
6. SEO is a one-time thing.
If you look at SEO as a continual process you’ll be much more successful. Adding content regularly, promoting your site, and becoming established in your niche’s online community will have far more long-term benefits than thinking about SEO as a one time project.
7. Gaining PageRank is the most important goal.
Instead of focusing on PageRank, focus on what you actually want to achieve with your site. Visitors? Leads? Customers? Set goals that will help you or your company instead of getting wrapped up in what your PageRank is.
What other myths do you hear?
Cassi
