By Patrick Galvan, B² Interactive
Search engine optimization practices change almost monthly, if not faster. Because of this, it’s often hard to keep up with what’s considered “good SEO” and what’s not. To help, we’ve rounded up five SEO myths that are frequently repeated (and consistently false).
Myth #1: Content Is King
Ever since the introduction of Google’s Hummingbird algorithm, there’s been a huge emphasis on the production of high-quality, relevant content. Many marketers have thrown around the phrase “Content is king” to explain to clients and others within the industry just how important content is.
Don’t get us wrong—having high-quality content on your website is absolutely necessary for good SEO, as it helps drive traffic to your website and makes it easier for search engines to understand what you provide to potential searchers. However, to say that content is “king” in SEO is misleading.
Truth be told, every aspect of a website is important to SEO. Web design, site structure, page titles and meta descriptions, click-through rates, internal and external links, and content all work together to improve your search engine optimization and boost your online presence.
As this chart from Search Engine Land shows, there are several elements (both visible and invisible to site visitors) that help determine search engine rank. For instance, search engines will read the HTML coding on your website and check to see if the keywords in your metadata match the content visible on your page. So it’s not just content that search engines care about.
Myth #2: Web Design Doesn’t Affect SEO
A visually appealing, easy-to-navigate website matters to site visitors. If they don’t like the way your website looks, or if it’s too hard for them to find what they need, they’ll leave almost immediately after clicking into your website. This tells search engines that your website isn’t designed with user experience in mind, which is one of the major determiners in search engine rank right now.
In addition, if your website and its pages are slow to load, search engines are less inclined to display your website in the top results. That’s because their algorithm updates are all about improving how searchers find information (meaning quickly and easily). Poorly-designed websites don’t fit that bill.
The same is true if your website isn’t designed to be mobile-friendly. Search engines know when their searchers are using smartphones or tablets. Because of this, they’ll show mobile-friendly websites over those that aren’t since these sites provide the best user experience for mobile device searchers.
Myth #3: Paid Advertising Boosts Organic Rank
For years, there’s been a popular misconception that paid search advertising is the legal form of online bribery—that if advertisers pay search engines like Google and Yahoo! to host ads, the search engines will reward them with a higher rank. And that’s just not true.
In reality, a strong PPC campaign can help your website see a little more exposure in search engine results since paid ads are shown above and to the right of organic search results. But paying for placement doesn’t improve organic SEO in any way. Only an optimized website with good user experience and high-quality content can do that.
Myth #4: Links Are Always Good
Only quality links from other high-quality websites improve your SEO. Anything else harms your rank.
Unethical SEO practices—such as buying or selling links, hiding links on a webpage, and link farming—are frowned upon by Google and other search engines. So unless you want your website to get punished and dropped in search engine results, stick to earning links from credible websites.
Myth #5: Social Media Plays a Huge Role in SEO
Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest—they’re all significant to anyone trying to connect with consumers, share content, or get in on conversations within industries. However, the influence your social media interactions have on your search engine rank is, unfortunately, indirect.
By sharing links on social media that take visitors to specific pages or posts on your website, you can increase the amount of incoming traffic to your site. And with likes, shares, and retweets, your posts will be seen by more people. But none of these things count in search engine rank.
Of course, that could all change down the road with SEO (and we expect it will). For now, though, social media is strictly about sharing content and engaging with consumers and industry communities.
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B² Interactive is a full-service digital marketing agency in Omaha, NE that fuses web development with content marketing, social media marketing, search engine optimization, local listing management, and more to offer a well-rounded web presence for businesses. The co-founders of B² Interactive have years of experience building, operating and promoting sites—small and large, local and national. Services offered include Website Design and Development, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing, and Paid Search Advertising Management. Follow B² Interactive in Omaha socially for our latest updates: B² Interactive on Twitter, B² Interactive on Facebook, B² Interactive on Google+.
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