Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the most imperative marketing practices that a business needs to do in the digital world of marketing. What was once considered industry practice, has now been completely shunned with the algorithmic changes to Google. However, just like many other fields, SEO has myths attached to it, which have confused many webmasters regarding the true essence of ranking higher on search engines. In this blog post, we tend to debunk the top 10 myths surrounding SEO and what you can do to rank your website higher in search engines.
So what are the Myths Surrounding SEO?
Top Rank
Webmasters and SEO agencies try to rank websites for high rank in search engines and that is where they think success follows. Unfortunately, this isn’t true all time as it isn’t just the ranking but the conversion factor which plays an important role in a site’s success. There are a number of businesses that are not on the top, yet are enjoying consistent traffic and conversions in sales. There are many companies and businesses that are sitting on the top positions of popular search engines and are generating a good amount of traffic, which isn’t converting into sales. Thus the top rank on search engines is not essential to have a successful business.
Longer Content
People often tend to get confused with the quality and quantity of the content. Most people tend to prefer quantity of content over quality, which means they believe the longer the content, the better the rankings. In reality, it is the opposite. There needs to be a balance between quantity and quality of content. If your website has content posted for the end users, and not just for the search engines, your website would have a higher chance of generating traffic compared to a competitor who has useless long blog posts. If your readers are unable to solve their problems through your content, it is absolutely worthless to publish this type of content. Longer content isn’t harmful in any way but needs to be backed up with quality information, statistics, and reader-based info.
Link building
Many people think that link-building is dead. To some extent, it is true, but websites that have strong rankings and traffic tend to do so due to consistently high-quality link-building practices at a slow and steady pace. These links come from authoritative sites highly relevant to a website’s niche and prove useful over a long period of time.
Videos
Another Myth is that people like to consume content in videos and believe that more videos will generate more traffic and eventually top rankings. It is true that videos create a strong buzz and help in generating more traffic, but videos alone are of no help. Higher page loading time and frustrated visitors are the worst possible things that could happen to your website because of embedded videos. Videos need to be balanced with blog posts and transcribed material. Moreover, only specific topics should have videos embedded to avoid higher page loading times.
Social media is the way
The use of Social media is among the best techniques used in SEO these days. The use of Social should be high on your list and should be part of every SEO campaign but it doesn’t mean that you should stop everything else and just focus on Social Media. Social Media is a great way to increase your ranking but you should back it up with quality content when you will apply this strategy you will get a lot of traction, eventually giving a boost to your content. Social media alone isn’t helpful because the traffic may not convert to your website. You need to have a dedicated content marketing strategy for social media fans in order to be successful.
I did SEO…once!
The biggest myth perhaps is that SEO is a one-time activity. Just like a brand that needs to constantly advertise using various marketing channels such as TVCs, Radio, billboards, etc. the same holds true for a website, which constantly needs to invest in SEO as a long-term successful strategy. SEO is an ongoing process, even if you have achieved the desired results. Remember, achieving results isn’t as difficult as maintaining them. If you have achieved good traffic and sales from your SEO strategy, continue using it persistently or you will fail in the end.
Do what others are doing
That is more like saying “Hey, I will copy you whether you are following whitehat or blackhat methods, as all I need is rankings.” Every website has its own strategy due to its niche, domain age, and several other factors. It is not necessary that if something is working in favor of others, it would work the same for you. Copying what the best players are doing isn’t worth it. When you as an individual are blessed with a unique personality, your website also needs to be blessed with a unique SEO strategy different from your competitors. Of course, who says inspiration isn’t legal? Being inspired is something else, but that doesn’t mean you start copying off what your competitors are doing.
Good website design doesn’t matter
This is also something many people believe, but it is also a false concept. Your web design is as important as the content. Think of it as a restaurant that serves the best food in town but lacks the necessary ambient. Do you think people would ever feel comfortable sitting at a restaurant with poor customer service and a lack of environment, even though the food is great? The same holds true for a website. To keep your audience glued to your website, a nice custom design is important that is embedded with the features of the SEO strategy.
SEO is a solo effort
It is also important to note that SEO is not a solo effort. Depending on the size of the business, you will need a small team to produce quality efforts as a single consultant or employee may not handle all that burden. Hire an SEO company as they have a team of expert marketers that will work together on your website for higher rankings. Remember, at the end of the day, it’s the team that wins, not a single player.
On-Site SEO is enough
Your SEO efforts should include having a great on-page website. A perfect on-page SEO is important, but it is only the first step in ranking your website. You need to do much more than just on-page SEO, such as off-page SEO, guest posting, link building, social media marketing, PPC (as need be), etc.
CONCLUSION
What we have done is to try and debunk the top 10 myths surrounding SEO. By now, we hope that you understand how important having a consistent SEO strategy is for your business to be successful. Despite all of the information presented about SEO, we have to accept that SEO still stands as one of the most powerful strategies to get targeted traffic to a website.