Myths encircle almost every phenomenon, and like everything else, SEO is no exception. The search engine algorithm is almost constantly changing, and as a result, many tactics become outdated. The outdated practices have made it difficult for anyone to produce a proper formula for a successful SEO strategy. But these practices have now transformed into myths that can stray a digital marketing expert. Some of these myths are:
1. Keyword targeting is irrelevant
While many underestimate the importance of keywords, experts still consider them of great value. The keyword results are still a crucial part of the search engine page results. But the algorithm updates are more focused on the searcher’s intent. Either way, it is essential to include keywords in the content, but crossing a keyword density ratio can cause your content to become obsolete.
Hence, focusing on the searcher’s intent and using the keywords carefully in that context can help you get better traffic. Don’t limit yourself to just one keyword. Try to incorporate long and short-tail keywords to make your content more SEO-friendly.
2. Backlinks is the only top-ranking factor
Following the words of Andrey Lipattsev (Search Quality Senior Strategist at Google), links and content are the two critical factors that determine a website’s top ranking on Google. While the fact is that many factors influence Google’s search result algorithm, and link building is, of course, one of them. However, one may not underestimate the effectiveness of other crucial factors, including query intent, user query, quality of information, etc. Without these, one may not successfully gain backlinks for the target website.
3. No need to create content often
Another widely known myth is that marketing experts don’t have to upload content too often. But that is just ignorance. Content holds great importance in search engine optimization. SEO experts must keep on putting out new content to increase traffic for the website. Producing high-quality content can increase leads for your website. These leads eventually turn into customers. Besides, creating more content means you get to target different types of relevant keywords. But writers tend to overdo it, which leads to the next myth in our list.
4. Using more keywords ensure higher ranking
While producing required content with relevant keywords is essential for your website still, there is no reason to overdo it. SEO experts often wrongly consider that the more keywords they use in their content, the better the ranking they can secure. But the line between safely incorporating keywords and stuffing them is perhaps challenging. Using too many keywords without any need can go against Google’s guidelines. As a result, it might decline your site’s ranking instead of boosting it.
5. You only need to do SEO once
Some people optimize their website once and wash their hands of the task, thinking it to be enough. They believe that optimizing just once is enough to generate the required leads. But the reality is that search engine optimization is a long-term strategy. You will have to constantly optimize your website, create content, and update the website to maintain rankings on the search engine. You may not get the results right away, but an effort of few months will indeed show you promising results. Hence, optimizing your website from time to time can give you excellent results in the longer run.
6. Guest blogging is dead
Often people believe that guest blogging holds no credibility anymore. Of course, that is simply not true. In fact, getting experts and well-known individuals to contribute to your page is an excellent marketing tactic. It increases your website’s visibility and increases your brand’s credibility. However, pointers that actually create an impact include content’s relevance, quality, and authority of the guest blogger. Hence, it is best to create high-quality content that the audience finds relevant. It can increase your brand’s recognition and generate more traffic.
7. Having more website pages increases the ranking
Having multiple pages on the website is not wrong, but overdoing it can harm your website. Experts generally recommend breaking up the content according to relevance and categorize it for better access. But adding too many pages as a strategy to increase ranking won’t do any good. Despite common belief, Google’s search engine doesn’t recommend a higher ranking for a website considering its number of pages. Everything eventually boils down to the relevance and quality of the content you publish on your website.
Conclusion
Search engine optimization takes up a lot of time and effort, but it pays off in the end. Hence, whenever you hire an expert, make sure to check their credibility. These myths hold no value, and people generally create them due to a lack of credible or updated information. But the problem is that the secrecy about search engines’ algorithm preferences makes these myths even more believable. You have to be careful about these myths and consult with advisors about the best strategy to take that can help you achieve the ranking you desire.