SEO or to give it its full title Search Engine Optimisation is a term surrounded in mystique. This misconception alone was key when I chose a domain name for this website “Google Wizard”. Just to be clear, I’m not a Wizard, I’m a regular guy who lives in a small town called St Helens somewhere between Liverpool and Manchester in the UK, I don’t have a pointy hat or a cloak and my name isn’t Merlin.
People who aren’t involved in SEO tend to think that its a complex subject understood only by magicians, those in the industry would have you believe it. Don’t get me wrong, the people who have made it their business to understand SEO are rather guarded about what they know. Why shouldn’t they be? I know that personally I have put an incredible amount of time and money into learning what I know about getting results. I thought however that it was about time that I dispelled a few myths about SEO and getting to the top of search results.
Misconception 1 – SEO is a guarantees 1st place in the search results.
As the old adage goes – The only thing guaranteed in life are taxes and death. There are simply too many variables at play and indeed other websites with a similar goal to guarantee a 1st place page 1 result. SEO will improve your search standings, that is an undisputed fact. There is however no guarantee on where in the results you will end up or how long it will take for you to get there. In addition to SEO you need to ensure good clean web design, page load speeds, relevant content and more.
Misconception 2 – SEO only has to be done once
Fall for this one and you’re sure to come unstuck. An initial audit on meta tags, website construction, alt tags, keyword distribution and more is vital but that is only stage one. SEO is ongoing, Its like raising a child, you cant just feed them once adn give them an Encyclopedia to read. Websites and SEO are things that need constant nuturing and development. The Google algorithms change constantly and you may be on page one today but next month you may not be. SEO is an ongoing process.
Misconception 3 – Google is the only search engine worth bothering with
Whilst its true that currently Google is the market leader, there is still plenty of people who use other search engines, Yahoo, Bing, and numerous others can still bring in much needed traffic and shouldn’t be ignored. I speak of Google a great deal in my writing as they are one of the only companies that I can think of who like “Hoover” have managed to get their brand name to be generally accepted as a verb. Don’t however be blinded by this. There is still a huge amount to be gained by recognising that Google aren’t the only search engine out there.
Misconception 4 – Quantity is better that Quality.
When it comes to link building people wrongly believe that more linky = better ranky! Back links from some websites can actually harm your page rank. Quality links built over time are far more important than multiple links from link farms etc.
Misconception 5 – SEO is a scam
Sadly, the number of scammers operating in this field has resulted in this popular misconception. Be aware of anyone guaranteeing a first page result for your website or offering to sell you keywords. Be cautious also of people offering to sell links, these can seriously harm your website. SEO works, SEO also covers a wide spectrum, it isn’t just about keywords and links, its about learning the search engine dance, and using it to your advantage. It certainly increases page rank. Imagine having a new business and installing a telephone line. Without publishing the number anywhere then who’s going to call? You’ve got to get the number in directories, hand out business cards and flyers, have the number on the company vehicles and so on. This is the same really as SEO for your website. Just because you have a website and a domain name it doesn’t mean customers will find you.
Misconception 6 – I need to re submit my site often
Search engines have spiders these days that crawl known websites often and automatically. As long as your site is optimised for when they visit then they will find their way around and rank it accordingly. The spiders like links too, internal and external, They like to navigate easily around your website.
Misconception 7 – No follow links are useless
This isn’t the case, some search engines will still ignore the no follow tag. Even the ones that acknowledge it still recognise that their is a link and as such a mix of follow and no follow links will still be recognised as a plus by the search engines.
Misconception 8 – PPC advertising increases my organic search result.
There is no evidence to support this theory at all. The two are totally separate. PPC advertising has its benefits, its a complex and often very costly method of getting traffic. It works for a lot of companies but unless you have a reasonable budget set aside then don’t rely on it for long term results. As an initial traffic booster it works great whilst you climb up the organic results. Once you stop your campaign however then the ads stop and your visibility returns to normal. This is why ranking high organically is so important.
Don’t base your SEO on these misconceptions, you may lower your rank instead of raise it. Visit my article “I want to get to the top of Google” for more information.
Ask me for a free quote to see how little my services cost. I can apply SEO techniques to your existing website for very little expense or if you prefer I can design a new website for you.
