Search Engine Optimization (SEO) keeps changing very frequently.
With every new announcement from Google, the techniques of SEO change. These frequent changes create a lot of space for the SEO team to experiment. These experiments bring a lot of different opinions about SEO which in return spreads misleading information or MYTHS.
Today, we’ll bust 7 SEO myths that we see regularly on the internet and are very common.
- SEO is a one time work
- Google Hummingbird ate Keyword targeting
- Meta tags aren’t important now
- Top-level domains improve based on ranking
- Google promotes fresh content and index it
- Guest blogging is of no help
- Social signal isn’t a ranking factor
SEO is a One-time work
One of the biggest myths, many people think you just need to optimize your content once and it will keep getting traffic for years without any additional work.
Well, SEO is an ongoing process that makes it regular work.
You need to try new techniques and make changes according to the requirements of current trends. Once you stop making changes, your traffic will decrease before going dead.
It is because when you are not focusing on SEO, your competitors are trying their best to upgrade their SEO game.
As a result, your content is no more visible in comparison to your competitors.
So, if anybody says they are getting traffic without SEO, you need to double-check.
Google Hummingbird ate Keyword targeting
Google came up with an algorithm change of how Google search was done in September 2013. This led to the spread of news that keywords aren’t going to work for SEO anymore.
Although it affected 90% of research results, it didn’t downgrade the keyword SEO strategy. On the contrary of rumor, Hummingbird helped SEO experts skip the keyword ratio game.
The main focus of this update was to make the search very specific to the thinking of a researcher.
The keyword strategy still works and it is as important as it was earlier. The major change is, you need to know the reason why people will search the particular keyword and create content around it.
Meta tags aren’t important now
Meta tags are a crucial part of SEO strategy even today.
How?
It is because meta tags are visible in SERPs. Therefore, the decision is based on meta tags if they will open your content or not. Since it has a direct impact on engagement rates and traffic of your website, it impacts SEO.
To make the best use of Meta tags and meta descriptions, write creative and catchy content for both. It should be engaging enough to encourage people to click on it. Once you achieve this your SEO results will automatically improve. You should focus “Meta Tags” on them to improve your ranking.
Top-level domains improve the ranking
Top-level domains like .com or .net have a higher position when it comes to domain name selection.
This myth took a form because whenever you run a Google search, you’ll find the .com domain appearing at the top in most of the searches. This makes people believe that top-level domains help in improving your rank.
This might help your ranking but it can’t be the deciding factor. The result still depends on the quality of content you share on your website, the keywords you use, the originality, and the freshness of your content.
All these factors combined help you to rank on the Google page.
Google promotes fresh content and index it
It is not a new thing to say Google loves fresh and updated content.
Let’s find out!
Fresh content works in some niches and doesn’t work in others. For example, you have a blog where you write about the share market; the companies whose share prices have increased or went down. On the other hand, we have a blog where we talk about how to tie a shoelace.
In the first situation, you’ll need to update your blog now and remain relevant.
Whereas, in the second situation no need to update because the method of tying a shoelace will remain the same.
So, your un-updated 5-year-old content will remain as relevant as your 5-day-old updated blog.
Guest blogging is of no help
Content from guest bloggers is no different than your content unless you mention it’s a guest post (we recommend not to do so).
Guest blogging is considered one of the best and most effective techniques to build your community. It sets your brand value high and gives you access to authoritative links that are very crucial for your brand.
Moreover, you get access to a huge targeted audience. These target audiences will share your content which in return get more traffic.
Therefore, it helps your content to rank on Google.
Social signal isn’t a ranking factor
Two major search engines, Google and Bing, use data from your social media platforms to check the relevancy of your content which decides your content ranking.
Moreover, a link shared on social media channels can bring more traffic to your blog.
However, it’s not possible to analyze the results from the social media links at once. It takes time to build your authority well enough to see the major difference in the search results and traffic.
Therefore, maintaining social media is a slow process of getting targeted traffic.
Conclusion
There are many more SEO myths floating in the market.
These 7 myths are the most common ones that don’t fall into their trap.
As mentioned earlier, SEO is a very dynamic subject. It keeps changing from time to time.
To be at the top of the market, make sure to learn from the best resources available.
Along with the knowledge, keep experimenting with your ideas and create unique content.
Want to implement SEO in your marketing strategy but don’t know how?
Schedule a consultation call with us and let our SEO team help you!
