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August 28, 2017

17 SEO Myths you should ignore

Author: Valerie Baker

There are a TON of SEO “hacks,” “tricks,” & “tips” out there on the internet. Some of them are great, where others…not so much. Check out these 17 SEO myths you should completely ignore.

  1. SEO gets you quick results
    Not true what so ever! SEO is an ongoing & evolving process. Someone who implemented SEO on their website 2 years ago isn’t performing nearly as well as someone who implements & updates their SEO techniques regularly. Google is frequently updating what parameters are needed to rank highest on their website so cheaters can’t stay at the top when honest-to-goodness companies (& small businesses) are working their butts off to even get recognized. SEO can take several months before you see a significant increase in results!
  2. Get your site to Page 1 of the SERPs and your SEO work is done
    SEO is never done! As I mentioned before, SEO is evolving & won’t be the same in 6 months, let alone 6 weeks! Constantly tweaking will help you rank higher.
  3. The older the domain, the better
    It’s been proven time and time again that newer and smaller websites with better content outrank older websites with worse content. If you really want to rank high in Google’s eye, make sure that the content is the best you can produce.
  4. Keyword research doesn’t matter
    NO. NO. Keywords are still just as important – Google didn’t remove the importance of keywords in any recent update.
  5. Guest posting is dead
    A relevant, helpful guest post for a fellow blogger in your niche can still drive users to your site. Guest posting remains one of the most effective ways to build links & relationships. Bonus points: get a link back from their website! It helps both of you, but I’ll get to that later.
  6. The best links are from .edu & .gov sites
    Typically, .gov & .edu sites have high authority, however, there are quite a few .com & other domains that have just as much – if not more – authority. As mentioned before, content is key & if your choice is to link to a .gov website with sub-par information or a .com with top notch information always choose the one with better content!
  7. A dedicated IP helps boost your Google rank
    Your rankings are in no way affected by having a dedicated IP or not according to Google themselves!
  8. Linking out helps you rank
    Yes, linking out does help. But the real helper is having links back to your website. As I mentioned earlier, having links to a website & having them link back helps infinitely more than just a one-way street.
  9. You can only do SEO when you finish a website
    Implementing SEO can start as soon as you create the website. Once the website is live, Google will start crawling it regardless of the state of it. Having SEO be part of your best practices while building a website helps everyone, especially so you’re not trying to shoe-horn it in at the end.
  10. Great content is enough to get high rankings
    Great content is just a piece of the puzzle. No matter how well the content is written, keywords help Google identify the information & make sure it’s being shown with the correct search results. All SEO elements work together & content is just a piece of it.
  11. Any inbound link is good for SEO
    There are bad links, like the ones from link farms. But there are also natural, high-quality links from authority sites. Think of meat, you wouldn’t want to buy it from the dollar store, would you? Just like you know the difference between dollar store steak & Kobe beef, Google’s link algorithm knows the difference. If you get caught with bad links, it will hurt your rankings, trust us.
  12. You need to update your content regularly to constantly rank
    There’s some truth, but not to the extreme some people take it too. With weekly, or bi-weekly blogs, you can still rank high. As I’ve said before, high-quality content is better than low-quality
  13. Your site doesn’t need a blog
    It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, there’s always something to talk about. As mentioned before, adding content regularly will help your website rank higher
  14. Internal linking has no bearing on SEO
    internal links help users navigate your website. Without these links, users will likely spend little to no time on your site, and that will affect your rankings.
  15. Your site doesn’t have to be mobile-friendly
    For a majority of our clients here at Atilus, mobile is the #1 platform people are visiting the sites on! Users will typically leave if the website is unusable on mobile. Not only that, but Google rewards sites that are mobile-responsive. At Atilus, we use a responsive design for all of our websites to ensure that your website looks great regardless of device.
  16. SEO is dead
    If SEO is dead then why is organic search driving 51% of all website traffic? SEO is an important part of any website. SEO helps promote your website to ensure it’s presented to the right people. Unless there’s some major shift, SEO will be around for a very long time.
  17. SEO can be automated
    SEO requires a human input. If it was as easy as one click, everyone would have impeccable rankings. The SEO bots make it so your website looks like spam.

These 17 SEO myths are officially debunked! Thank you to Anthony at My Biz Niche for the infographic. If you need help building your website or increasing your SEO rankings, contact Atilus today!

Valerie Baker

Valerie is the Support Lead here at Atilus. Her background includes digital marketing and web development. She takes amazing care of our clients and assists with overall website updates and development.

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