Some of the most common SEO myths

wxdqz

New Member
PPC Myths:

1. PPC ads will help organic rankings
2. PPC ads will hurt organic rankings

Tag Myths:

1. you must have a keyword-rich domain
2. you must have keyword-rich page URLs
3. heading tags are necessary (H1, H2 etc.)
4. using keywords in comment tags will hurt your rankings.
5. you need to use keywords in meta keyword tags, in particular you need to use keywords that are included in your page content.

Note: It's actually better to use the keyword tag to include misspellings and other keyword varieties that you don't have in your pages.
Content Myths:

1. page copy must be a certain # of words(there is really no set limit to please search engines.)
2. that you need to bold/italicize your target keywords
3. that you must use a specific keyword density.(keyword density tools are ridiculous.)
4. that you must optimize a page for a single keyword or phrase per page. Instead, try to optimize each page for 3-5 phrases that are related, so that your copy reads better than repeating one phrase over and over.
5. that you need to optimize for the long-tail searches. You don't generally need to optimize for these - engines will find them on their own.
6. duplicate content will get your site penalized. There is not a penalty as such, but engines will filter out duplicates in lieu of the original copy (or what they think is the original).

Design Myths:

1. your HTML code must validate to W3C. Not even Google.com validates!
2. your navigation must be text links not images. Surprisingly,graphical navigation is fine as long as you use ALT tags.
3. you can't use Flash. It's fine to use Flash, as long as it is one element of your page, not a complete Flash site. Use a text-based site too if using a Flash site.
4. certain design techniques are black hat. Javascript code is legitimate, not just used by black hats.

Link Building Myths:

1. that Google's link: command is accurate. It's not a useful tool. Use Google Webmaster Tools or the Yahoo link command instead.
2. that reciprocal links won't count. From the right site,reciprocal links are fine, even very helpful.
3. that pages are ranked in PageRank order in the search results. They're not. Google Toolbar PageRank is not accurate anyway so ignore it.
4. you must be in DMOZ or Yahoo Directory to get good Google rankings. In my opinion, the Yahoo Directory is not worth the money these days.

Submitting, Crawling and Indexing Myths:

1. that you need to submit URLs to engines. Provided you have a link to your site, you will be found and indexed.
2. that you need a Google Sitemap. Not needed for the average site. It won't change your site rank.
3. that you need to update your site frequently.
4. frequent spidering helps rankings. Not true.
5. that you need multiple sites. This won't help in the engines and creates more maintenance work.
6. that you need doorway pages. this is so 1995!

SEO Company Myths:

1. that a #1 ranking will always lead to more traffic or sales. The good rankings need to be for keywords and phrases that people are actually searching for.
2. that the company can place pages in certain positions. Not possible, unless they抮e using Pay Per Click or sponsored spots.
3. that your rankings will tank if you stop paying the company. Rubbish!
4. that they have a "proprietary method" of SEO. They抮elying!
5. that they have a "special relationship" with Google. Again, they're lying. Google has no relationships with organic SEO companies that I am aware of.
6. that they can increase your rankings without doing any on-page work. Run away!

My definition of SEO is "making your site the best it can be for your site visitors AND the search engines". Search engines need to:

1. Find
2. Crawl
3. Index
4. Determine relevancy
5. show results



So you should keep these top of mind when designing and SEOing your site. Search engines don't know you. So you should disclose what you sell and who you are in plain language that naturally incorporates the keyword phrases. Dumb down your pages for users. What search engines want is good content. If you're not getting good traffic from your pages, they're broken. In a nutshell, make sure your pages speak to your target audience and solve their problems.
How to choose keywords to target on your site.
I recommended brainstorming with friends, family and business colleagues and creating a seed list of keywords. Then take that list and run it through keyword research tools such as WordTracker (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.wordtracker.com/">http://www.wordtracker.com/</a><!-- m -->) or Keyword Discovery (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/">http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/</a><!-- m -->) and even Google AdWords (<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://adwords.google.com/">http://adwords.google.com/</a><!-- m -->) Or Web CEO (Free) to determine the best keywords and phrases to target.
Three types of keyword phrases:

1. General and highly competitive terms - not good choices.
2. Long tail - uncompetitive terms - generally no need to SEO for.
3. Relevant and specific terms, which are the best to choose because they highly searched, yet are targeted enough to bring qualified traffic.

Where to put your Keyword

1. anchor text
2. clickable image alt attributes (alt tags)
3. headlines
4. body text copy
5. title tags (Don't make your titles less than 10 words.)
6. meta description tags
 
Back
Top