SEO is one of the most beneficial marketing strategies out there and a brilliant way to earn some serious ROI (Return On Investment) – An unbelievable average of 22:1, and this number only gets higher when you focus on high-performing strategies.
A lot of marketers try to do SEO on their own – which is perfectly fine, but with so much conflicting information out there, it’s easy to find lies and myths that mess up with your ability to create a quality campaign you could otherwise get.
So, we created an article to show you the top ten things people believe about SEO that aren’t exactly true – and you’ll be shocked by how common these SEO myths are!
#1 SEO will die
“Google algorithm will become so smart SEO specialists will be forced out of their jobs”, said just about anyone who can’t be bothered doing enough research to support such a claim.
On one hand, Google’s algorithm IS getting smarter indeed, and many of the things an SEO specialist used to do ten years ago are now completely obsolete.
Things that scored some big wins ten years ago, such as “keyword stuffing”, would now penalise websites we’d work on. Now, we have to be a lot smarter with keywords and create “human-ready” content that focuses on the person behind the screen.
The truth is, SEO will never die, it will just evolve.
In recent years, Google’s algorithm has transitioned to a content-focused crawling mechanism. This means that soon enough, content specialists and SEO will have to work even closer together than they are now.
Who knows? SEO trends continue to emerge, and only time can tell. But as long as Google uses crawlers to index websites, Search Engine Optimisation services will continue to thrive and score marketers some huge wins.
#2 SEO only serves a ranking purpose
Wait, what?
SEO isn’t just an instrument designed to make you rank higher on the Google results page – it’s a tool that will profoundly shake up the entire identity of your website and the way your customers experience your business online.
#3 Social media doesn’t matter
Social media metrics allow your website to score significantly higher on the search results page.
This is a recent update to Google’s algorithm, so it’s understandable why so many SEO specialists still ignore social media whenever they create their next five-figure strategy.
People that ignore social media ignore trends – did you know that 40 percent of young people use TikTok as a search engine, and Twitter is a Google partner?
Social media and search engines may be much more than a power duo – they may become pretty much the same thing in the near future.
#4 HTML tags matter
HTML tags within text-rich content help browsers identify your headings and subheadings. Although this used to be necessary for crawlers to identify the topic and structure of your content, Google’s 2021 algorithm update has sharpened the crawling process to the point that applying the right HTML tags doesn’t really matter as much anymore.
However, applying tags is still extremely important for users who want to visit your website.
This is especially true if you are using a WordPress theme where the design of your content is customisable according to your tags, such as Divi and Elementor.
Tags can enhance user experience and make your content more navigable thanks to menus, tags and content overview plugins.
#5 Link Quantity > Link Quality
You’d be surprised by the number of Fiverr services that offer you hundreds of link building services that promise you a plethora of cheap backlinks you can use to “rank first on the search engines”.
Do we really need to tell you that this stuff doesn’t work?
Sure, it may only cost you fifty bucks, but what you are getting is fifty bucks’ worth of marketing skills – and there is a reason why the average price tag for a link building service comfortably hits the four figures.
Google’s algorithm prefers backlinks from reputable, trustworthy websites to tons and tons of backlinks from shady, spammy pages that nobody visits.
The publicity you’ll get from a single quality backlink is hundred times more valuable than the publicity you’ll get from one thousand, mediocre ones.
#6 Keyword density is good for SEO
There is a keyword in every piece of content we create – and yet, we don’t create it for the keyword, but the human behind the screen.
You can take an HTML page and stuff it with one hundred keywords, or create a very good page for a single keyword – we assure you, the very good one will beat the cheap, overstuffed page every single time.
Keywords are essential for your SEO campaign, but it’s not really as simple as just dumping keywords into a wall of text and hoping for the best.
You need to create content around one or maybe two keywords that are extremely specific for that audience, in order to achieve the best results.
This is also one of the pillars of performance marketing.
#7 SEO is very expensive
SEO specialists do in fact need to eat and pay their bills. So yes, there is a price tag on these sorts of services, and it’s unlikely you’ll find a valuable SEO professional for free.
Recommended read: The truth behind cheap SEO
However, is it expensive, or just resource-demanding?
The word “expensive” implies a price tag, as if SEO was an object you’d trade your money for. Rubies are expensive. Caviar is expensive.
SEO is an investment, and as such, the money you invest is money you’ll get back.
The predictable nature of this service ensures success at every step of the way, and when you pair up with a performance marketing agency, you can rest assured, knowing that you have partnered with money-growing specialists.
But even with this said, is SEO really that expensive? Custom packages exist specifically because SEO is a versatile creature that adapts itself to the needs of the customer – so that you can maximise ROI, no matter what your budget is.
When it comes to SEO campaigns the best, and most sensible, approach is hiring an SEO agency to design and develop a strategy that sets the foundations of your digital success. Not sure how to pick an agency? Have a look at our article on how to choose the best SEO agency.
#8 Interactive content is completely unrelated to SEO
We love interactive content – and you may be surprised to discover how amazing interactivity is to SEO.
The reason for this is simple:
One of the key metrics of SEO rankings is user retention rate on your website. Essentially, the more people visit and stay on your website for a long period of time, the more Google rewards your website with trustworthiness and ability to rank higher.
So, interactive content doesn’t directly improve Search Engine scores, but it does what Google requests: keeping your users on your page for a longer period of time.
Although this is sometimes difficult and expensive to implement, it’s super valuable – and as we discussed in a previous article, interactive content is ten times more effective than your average, boring article every content marketer can create.
Recommended read: How we steal your attention: 8 content engagement strategies to boost results
#9 Duplicate content = DEATH
People like to think of duplicate content as death. And there are very good reasons for this.
A while ago, Google imposed heavy penalties for duplicate content, because scrapers used to just copy and paste resources from valuable websites and try to make money off of them.
So, websites with duplicate content would be ignored by the search engines, making any SEO attempt completely useless.
However, the algorithm has improved since, and duplicate content isn’t the worst thing that can happen to your business anymore.
#10 PPC and SEO are enemies since the dawn of time
How many times did we hear this?
Apparently, many businesses need to choose between SEO and PPC services whenever they have to invest their marketing budget in a digital campaign that works.
However, 90% of people ignore the synergies between PPC and SEO – and fatally miss out on some huge opportunities!
While SEO and PPC are long and short-term marketing strategies respectively, these can coexist and build up with each other.
SEO rewards highly trafficked websites, and PPC is brilliant at giving you that big boost in traffic. In the same way, PPC rewards crawlable, keyword-centric websites, which is exactly what you’ll get from your own bespoke SEO strategy.
Therefore, we like to run both of these campaigns at the same time, when a client chooses a comprehensive performance-driven marketing strategy.
Conclusion
One of the most beautiful aspects of Search Engine Optimisation is its ever-changing nature. You can study SEO for a year and know nothing at all because of how unpredictable this huge topic is.
SEO agencies rely on monthly reports to adapt new and existing strategies – the technical nature leads to a confused customer, especially if you are new to SEO.
To get started, why not contact us today for a free digital consultation?
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Alex Grossi
