Top 13 Common SEO Myths and its Facts you must know for Best SEO Practice!

Every website operator wants their page to be found and therefore more or less inevitably deals with search engine optimization. This is how SEO myths arise that you should look at critically if you want your website to be found on the Internet as easily as possible. The Google updates Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird repeatedly punish existing SEO tactics, so that you often no longer know exactly which ones are actually out of date and which ones should be used.

Myth 1 – SEO is all about ranking

Fact: Of course, it is important that your website with the keywords that are important to you ideally appears in the first three positions of the organic search results on Google. Good click-through rates may mean a lot of visitors to your website, but not necessarily that these visitors also achieve the goal of the website, e.g. order something, fill out the contact form or watch a product video (this goal achievement is called “conversion”). Search engine optimization affects many areas: usability, i.e. the user guidance and the user experience (how the users experience the website), the website structure, content marketing etc. The ranking of individual keywords is only an SEO goal and is often overrated. Often it is not the relevant keywords for which the ranking is analysed. If there are very generic keywords, then of course, there are usually very strong competitors. So always take a look at which websites are listed on Google among the top 10 for the search term or phrase that is relevant to you. This gives you a good overview of how you can optimize your website.

Myth 2 – The most important thing is on-page SEO

Fact: On-page SEO, i.e. all SEO measures directly on the website, is unfortunately only part of the job. In addition to keyword research, image optimization, content creation, etc., there are many other factors to consider, such as page performance, link building or social media optimization. SEO is a holistic project. It’s always about the website being coherent, the positioning clearly recognizable and the overall concept “round”. Find out more SEO tips here.

Myth 3 – SEO can also be done by the IT department or the web designer

Fact: Yes, of course, SEO also has a lot of technical aspects and the IT department can often help with redirects, the robots.txt or the loading times of the site. But neither the web designer nor the IT department will deal intensively with keyword research or content marketing. That is why it is good if an SEO manager takes care of getting the many different aspects under one roof and makes the specifications for the others.

Myth 4 – Keywords must match exactly and be typed everywhere

Fact: Keyword stuffing, i.e. entering many keywords in one text or in the footer, is mega-out. Above all, you don’t need to enter anything in the metatag , this is completely irrelevant for Google. You don’t have to force the keyword or long-tail keywords into the text. Today, modern SEO means more to find keyword themes, i.e. keywords, synonyms and variants that go with them. Write a good and catchy headline and user-relevant content. Because what is good for users is also good for Google.

Myth 5 – There is an ideal keyword density

Fact: Keyword density is a myth that keeps popping up. There is no indication of how often the keyword should be mentioned. And if the text sounds unnatural when you read it out loud, it certainly doesn’t make sense. But it makes sense to mention the keyword in the headline. It is best to include the keyword in the (not too long) URL and at the beginning of the text. Don’t over-optimize, then the text will be read with pleasure.

Myth 6 – It is good when a lot of links point to my website

Fact: Yes, it’s good to have backlinks pointing to your site from well-respected thematic pages. And no, because link building is about quality, not quantity. The times of link buying and link exchange are clearly over, Google immediately recognizes this as spam. Even meaningless entry in all possible web catalogues, web directories, etc. does not help to strengthen the authority of a website. And you definitely shouldn’t buy links. You can invest this money better if you (have) write good content, e.g. posts for your blog, interesting offers or guest posts on other sites. This is how you gradually build natural links.

Myth 7 – Good content is enough, I don’t need SEO

Fact: Good content is important, of course. It is also important that something new is always added to the website. But of course, you should also check which keywords got visitors to your website, where these visitors came from and which posts were the best. This research can also be used to find new topics for your website. Now that’s search engine optimization again;)! Content and SEO are inevitably linked.

Incidentally, Google does not want to display the website in the top positions that are best optimized for search engines, but rather show the website that contains relevant content for the search term. Good content is therefore, a prerequisite and a meaningful on-page optimization supports the work of the crawlers in understanding the topic of your page.

Myth 8 – Website need a lot of content and therefore, absolutely it contains blog

Fact: No, it’s not about beating the user down with content, but rather that you present your company and your unique selling proposition correctly and that it is clear to the user what the user do next on your site. You don’t need hundreds of pages to do this. Better pay attention to the quality of the content. Just a few lines with company news is rather uninteresting for users and is rated by Google as “thin content” that offers no added value. So, when you add new content, make sure that the new page creates because you have something to say and it really benefits the user.

But it doesn’t necessarily have to be a blog that attracts user attention. It can also be pages that provide advice, FAQs or small useful tools.

Myth 9 – Social media and SEO have nothing to do with each other

Fact: Just to come straight to the point: just because you have a company profile on Facebook, Twitter or any other social network doesn’t automatically rank your website better. This is because Google cannot necessarily access the content of the networks. But still, a social media marketing strategy and search engine optimization belong together. You don’t have to be represented everywhere, but if you do, you have to be right, because high-quality content is also shared.

Myth 10 – For Local SEO, I just have to include the city

Fact: If it were that easy: then you just had to add your city or region in the text on your website and you would appear at the top of the search results. Of course, if you want to be found locally, it makes sense to mention where you can be found on the website. But when it comes to local search engine optimization, also think of review. A company profile on Google MyBusiness is particularly important because here you can appear in Google Maps and thus rank better in the search results. The company can also receive reviews, receive customer messages, or post. Find out more, how to promote your business with local online marketing!

Myth 11 – I have to submit my website to Google

Fact: No, Google will find your website faster than you think. Google will index the pages before you even go online. But you should submit a sitemap.xml in the Google Search Console so that Google has a table of contents of your website. This is how Google understands the structure of your website faster and better. Make sure to enter the correct format in the Search Console, namely xml and not html.

Myth 12 – When I run Google Ads, I get a better ranking in organic search results

Fact: No, that’s not correct. Google Ads and the search engine are two separate Google products and you won’t get a better ranking by placing ads. However, your website may then appear at the top of the search results, which will generate more traffic for your website. However, Google Ads is a complex product that you shouldn’t use in a hurry, otherwise, it will quickly become expensive.

Myth 13 – SEO is free!

Fact: If you’re doing SEO yourself and don’t really need an advertising budget, SEO might be free (except that you spend time on it). And if you like to create content for your website anyway, for example, blogging or creating video tutorials, then don’t do this for SEO, but for your users. The time factor is an argument because it takes a lot of time to get used to it and to stay up to date. SEO is an online marketing tool like advertising and therefore budget must be available for it.

Conclusion

SEO always has a holistic aspect and many adjustments. Which one to shoot depends on your goals and priorities, time and resources. First of all, it is important that you deal with the topic at all and no longer use outdated SEO techniques.

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