Much has changed since the early days of SEO: websites are designed differently, search engine algorithms are smarter, and most importantly, the average internet user is much savvier than before. Despite all these changes, there still seem to be myths about search engine rankings some business and website owners stubbornly hold on to. Let’s get to the bottom of these myths.
MYTH: Improving Your Ranking is the End Goal
It may be hard to swallow, but showing up on page 1 of Google is not the end-all goal. Equally important as your search engine performance is the user experience. Making sure your landing page is great, your users can easily navigate your site and the keywords you’re aiming for are relevant to your website’s offerings can make the difference between a closed tab and a conversion.
MYTH: SEO can be “Done”
All too often I hear from a client, “We did SEO on our site a while back.” This shows a fundamental misunderstanding about how SEO works today. The algorithms that determine which pages see the higher tiers of a results page are constantly evolving, and thus the efforts to effectively use them must as well. Search engines will usually prioritize pages with newer content, richer linking content and higher rated user experience. Failing to maintain a grip on your SEO can lead to your competition getting a large lead ahead of you.
MYTH: The More Keywords, The Better
Once upon a time, when search engines were much more primitive than today, this myth may have had a bit more truth to it. Though the best option may seem to be casting a wide net of keywords and hope that a few have success, that type of keyword-stuffing will usually do more harm than good. The first problem it presents is that you’ll increase how many other sites you compete with, and you may be spread to thin against more focused campaigns. The second is that it can prevent you from focusing on the keywords that are working – you won’t have the time to tweak and experiment with keywords when you have a library full of them.
MYTH: You Can Get to the Top
Before organic search results even appear, the user has multiple options to click on, and some will always click on whatever is at the top of the page, organic result or not. Paid ads are off the table for most businesses, unless they really want to give money to Google. This is where the other arms of your online marketing campaign can come in. Encourage your newsletter recipients to rate your business on Yelp or Angie’s List, create posts on Facebook and LinkedIn that your followers will want to share, publish great blog content that frames you as an industry expert.
Courtesy of InsideIndianaBusiness
