10 SEO Myths Reviewed by @DuaneForrester
Myths in SEO run almost as deep as they do in Lock Ness and Area 51. Lets have some fun and look at 10 of them today. By no means a definitely list, these still pop up.
Yes, its nice to rank on top, but you know that actual rankings fluctuate on a daily basis. Does the #1 spot actually get you more clicks and conversions and the # 2 or #3 spot. Depends on the phrase sometimes. And for those trying to get off page 2 of the SERP and onto page 1, be careful. Often the click through rate (CTR) of the top spots on page 2 are far better than the CTRs on the lower positions on page one. If you rank well on page 2, be careful when planning your assault on page one. Unless you can get above the fold, it might be better to stay put and own the top of the second page. All of this will, naturally, vary a great deal form site to site, page to page and even across individual phrases. Sometimes people research on one phrase and buy on another version, for example.
Its important, but even the most well-crafted title tag cant elevate a site skipping everything else. This is a somewhat common refrain from bloggers as some of the most popular platforms dont include things like meta descriptions in their base code. Plugins exist to easily add them, and allow access to a bunch of other common areas SEOs like to fiddle with. You should spend time getting the title right, but this alone wont save a sinking ship.
Social takes time, I cant be bothered with SEO, so Ill just do social. There was a time when ranking a website was like making consomm. You wanted one thing clear broth. At that time, you could focus on a single tactic and it would boost rankings. Today its more like trying to make the worlds best seafood chowder. Success depends on a complex mix of ingredients, freshness and timing. One ingredient alone wont bring success, and yet without that one ingredient, you dont have a chowder.
People like to consume content in videos. Videos are easy to produce and easy to consume. Its pretty easy to make high quality videos today, and even if you dont the expectations of people online have aligned with more modest efforts. But lets face it, embedding videos can negatively affect page load times, frustrating visitors. And a video alone wont help rankings. Youve got to give the engines something to understand, as theyre not going to watch that 4 minute rant you posted. Transcripts are a great way around this little issue. Videos are a great part of growing your content, but arent a silver bullet, despite what some ads on Facebook would have you believe.
Nope. No amount of ad buying will get you organically ranked higher. If you still believe this today, click here. The instant and engine starts determining ranking based on ads bought is the instant it loses credibility. Game over, Player One.
Maybe you do, but its not your call to make. Great content is content thats deemed great by searchers and visitors to your site. All the standards in the world wont help you if no one likes your writing style, voice or message. Grammar affects how people (readers) perceive you, so that can have a direct impact on engagement and rankings. But never delude yourself into thinking what you produced is excellent just because you put time into it. Watch what visitors engage with and seek to follow that same pattern.
While important as a vote of confidence for the content they point to, there is simply so much link spam these days that its tough to know where to turn. Obviously buying links is a dead end, and it doesnt matter how you split this hair: sharing, encouraging, incentivizing, buying its all the same. You want links to surprise you. You should never know in advance a link is coming, or where its coming from. If you do, thats the wrong path. Links are part of the bigger picture. You want them, but you want them to be natural. If an engine sees you growing tem naturally, youre rewarded with rankings. If they see you growing them unnaturally, youre rewarded with penalties.
No. It will help the engine gain a better understanding of your content, and allow us to use that content in unique ways in the SERPs (should we choose to), but installing the code doesnt boost rankings.
While technically a different discipline, its time more folks starting seeing them as similar. Both focus on improving a website for users. Investing in SEO and not investing in usability is like tying one sneaker and going for a run. Yeah, youll be OK, but wouldnt it be a better experience with both shoes tied?
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10 SEO Myths Reviewed by @DuaneForrester