Search Engine Optimization, more commonly known as SEO, is the process through which search engines rank pages in their search results. The way this process works is by judging the quality of the content, the keywords that the content uses and lastly, content’s relevance to the search term used.
Today, close to two billion people access the internet regularly. And, with search engines being the main way through which the users search, search engines have become an irreplaceable way to promote one’s website. As the importance of search engines has increased, so has the number of websites using SEO.
Over the years, lots of myths regarding SEO have popped up and many of them have actually succeeded in sticking around. The aim of this post is to quash these baseless myths and so, here are 17 of the most persistent SEO related myths that you should stop believing in;
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SEO is capable of getting you instant results
When it comes to SEO, instant results do not exist. In fact, it can take several months of great SEO before you witness a significant improvement in your website’s rank.
One of the best SEO company UK tell us Google is always tweaking and updating the parameters it relies on to rank websites. They say this is why it’s important that everyone should keep an eye on these rules and keep their SEO strategy in top form.
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When it comes to SEO, older domains have an advantage
This one has really stuck around even though it has been proven wrong over and over again. Your search engine rank depends on the quality of content you produce and that is what should get most of your attention. Stop worrying about your rivals having older domains and yours being completely new because that’s not how SEO works!
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You can stop with SEO once your website is in the 1st page of search results
Thing about SEO is that your work is never done. SEO is always changing and evolving so, if you want to stay on the first page, keep at it and don’t forget to regularly tweak your SEO strategy.
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Guest posting is not beneficial anymore
Nope. Guest posting is still as beneficial as it was before. A well researched and relevant guest post on a fellow blogger’s platform has actually been proven to bring their users over to the author’s blog. Bloggers can also team and guest post on each other’s blog in order to attract each other’s fans and hopefully, gain loyal readers in the process.
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Keyword research is not important
Keywords are still important as Google still partly relies on them when ranking pages. Hence, the more research you put into keywords, the better results you’ll get.
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Having a dedicated IP will help boost your rank on Google
We have no idea where this one came from but it’s pretty common. No, having a dedicated IP does not help your website’s rank on Google in any way. And, this has been confirmed by Google itself.
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.edu and .gov sites get better ranks
While .edu and .gov sites may have more authority, it does not mean they automatically get better search engine ranks. Like everyone else, they have to work for the ranks as well and the best way to improve one’s rank is by producing high quality content.
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You can only start SEO once your work on website has finished
The truth is, Google will start crawling your website as soon as it goes live. It doesn’t matter to search engines what state your website is in. And, this is exactly why you should start your website’s SEO as soon as it goes live. This will also save you from overdoing it later on.
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Linking out will help your website’s rank
This one actually has some truth to it but, linking out will not help you anywhere near as much as having links leading to your website will help your rank. This is why guest posting helps and why we’ll always recommend it.
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For SEO, any inbound link is good enough
Just like you know the difference between a good bakery and a bad one and always buy from the former, Google’s link algorithm knows the difference between a link from a link farm and one from an authority site. If you get caught using bad links, it’s a guarantee that your website’s rank will take a big hit.
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Good quality content is all that’s needed for a high rank
Experts from SEO services UK say high-quality content is just one part of a successful SEO strategy. Keywords are important too because that is how search engines ensure that the content is being shown in the correct search results.
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Your website does not need a dedicated blog
Regardless of which industry your company operates in, there is always something to share and talk about. And, this makes having a dedicated blog necessary. Add content to this blog regularly and it will help boost your website’s rank.
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To improve or maintain rank, you have to post regularly
This one has some truth to it as well but unfortunately, there are a lot of people overdoing this. One post every week or even every two weeks can actually help you maintain a high rank. One quality content post is better than two low quality ones.
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Your website does not have to be mobile friendly
This is probably the most dangerous one we have heard because in today’s modern era, smartphones are how majority of people access the internet. It’s been proven that mobile users spend very little time on unusable websites which means, not having a mobile-friendly website means kissing majority of your visitors goodbye.
Moreover, websites that have a responsive design (design that adapts to the visitor’s screen size) get a rank boost from Google. So, if you care about your website’s rank, make sure your website is sporting a responsive design.
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Internal links have no effect on your website’s rank
Internal links are how you keep users on your website. Without internal links, a big majority of the users will read the page they visited and then they will just close the tab. And, when users spend little or no time on your website, you can be sure it will adversely affect your website’s rank.
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SEO can be automated
No, it most certainly cannot be. Those SEO bots will achieve nothing more than making your website look like spam. SEO requires human touch. From the content quality to keyword research, every little aspect has to be handled by human experts.
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SEO doesn’t work anymore
This one is so dumb we couldn’t believe that there are actual people out there who believe this. SEO is one of the most successful methods to promote your website. In fact, SEO is so effective that today, organic search drives 51% of all website.
Unless there is some major shift in the way search engines work or until search engines are replaced by an all-knowing AI-entity, SEO is here to stay.