In the world of search engine optimization (SEO), some details lose context, become outdated, or born out of ignorance. They become the industry’s myths — or bits of misinformation. Not only are these myths untrue, but they can also harm your website. They can prevent you from improving your online presence and hamper your best marketing efforts.
Here are five SEO myths and why you need to stop believing them:
Myth #1: SEO Guarantees Ranking at The Top
Many businesses buy into guarantees that certain SEO companies can help their website rank at the top of search engines within a short period. They think that SEO is an easy process, and they can see results by paying another company that promises them quick results.
Ranking takes a lot of time and effort. Even with an SEO company’s best efforts to optimize a site, they end up changing the campaign because of budget constraints or a sudden algorithm change. Be wary of companies promising quick results for an SEO campaign.
Myth #2: SEO is a One-Time Effort
You did an SEO campaign, and it either gave you great results or none at all. Whatever the outcome, you’re sure that the campaign is over and you don’t need a follow-up.
Like other company assets, SEO requires continuous investment and development so you can see results. The digital marketing space continuously changes, and several factors will affect your site’s performance:
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- Outdated content
- Evolving search engine algorithms
- Updates from the competition
- Link degradation
It’s not enough to optimize your website and be done with it. SEO requires continuous monitoring and improvement so your site can see results.
Myth #3: Every Business Needs SEO
It’s a common misconception that every business, from retail to biohazard cleanups, needs SEO services to promote their products and services. For some organizations, the resources required and the projected return are not enough to get SEO services.
A business may not need, or will require little, SEO if:
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- No one is searching for the product or service
- Their campaigns require quick results
- They promote events, one-time offers, and changing inventory
Myth #4: Link Building is Dead
Even if you have excellent content but no links, your website won’t be visible. Having valuable and authoritative sites linking back to your site is beneficial for your ranking opportunities.
What will affect your website is the manipulative type of link building, such as forcefully placing internal links on your homepage. Google has taken great strides to detect and penalize this behavior.
Myth #5: Social Media Helps Your Rankings
Social media posts — comments, likes, votes, and other forms of engagements — aren’t inherently helpful in improving your search engine rankings. Google Webmasters trend analyst John Mueller confirmed that Google doesn’t use social signals in their search ranking factors.
However, that does not mean they’re irrelevant to online marketing. Social media campaigns improve your visibility, and when done well, they give you exposure. That exposure can get you links that will help improve your rankings.
Since the digital landscape continually changes, there’s bound to be a lot of misinformation that can prevent your website from being SEO-friendly. Whether or not you’re familiar with SEO, pay attention to what Google and SEO experts have to say. Doing so can help you find out which techniques will benefit your campaign.
