Are you an “SEO For Dummies” kind of person? How complex can best SEO tactics be? People talk about optimizing their website like it’s the magic that draws the most relevant customer traffic to an online business, but the truth is, the best SEO includes implementing a treasure trove of specific actions. Doing these actions builds a credible business relationship. If you want prospects and customers to engage with you on your website and through social media, your website must be correctly formatted to allow it. These actions get Google, prospects and customers to “love” you.
Want a successful business? Read through these website optimization myths and facts to see how you can better grow your business.
Best SEO Tactics Breakdown – Myth vs. Truth
1. Myth: SEO gets you quick results.
Truth: Have you ever owned a puppy? If so, you know that there is not just one thing you do to develop a meaningful relationship with your puppy. You must regularly and consistently do relationship-building things to craft a genuine relationship with your puppy. SEO is kind of like that for your business. It requires you to do a lot of different activities. Over time, you get results that meaningfully brand your website as a quality business.
2. Myth: Get your site to Page 1 of the SERPs and your SEO work is done.
Truth: Even the most reputable SEO experts can never guarantee that ranking on Page 1 will end your search engine optimization work. In fact, to make your website become familiar to your target audience, it is necessary to methodically add new, fresh, quality content to your website and in social media posts.
3. Myth: The older your domain, the better.
Truth: Market research consistently and repeatedly proves that quality online content is king. Smaller websites with high quality content can and do outrank older domains. Stay focused on getting those highly relevant backlinks by publishing relevant, quality, authority content.
4. Myth: Keyword research doesn’t matter.
Truth: Have you ever tried to sell a bouquet of purple balloons to anyone? If you have, and failed to sell them, it was because you used the wrong keywords in your offer. If that person doesn’t see the value in buying purple balloons, they won’t buy them. What’s the point here? If your website informs, sells, tells, rebates, reviews or whatever, you need relevant keywords on your site. Need help knowing how to find good keywords for your niche? Click here to read a handy article that helps you develop keyword and tag skills.
5. Myth: Guest posting is dead.
Truth: Guest posting is like being a pen pal. Pen pals are folks who write to each other to build a lasting relationship. For business, you can follow the same idea through guest posting. If you don’t write well, you can hire a ghostwriter through online writing websites such as Upwork, Guru or Pro Blogger.
6. Myth: The best links are from .edu and .gov sites.
Truth: Though people can get good links from .edu and .gov sites, you can get high ranking links from other authority sites, too. Getting good links begins by knowing HOW to write authoritative content.
7. Myth: A dedicated IP helps boost your Google rank.
Truth: According to an article on SEO Inc., dedicated IP addresses for each website does nothing to change page rank. According to the article, “Google handles virtually hosted domains and their links just the same as domains on unique IP addresses.”
8. Myth: Linking out helps you rank.
Truth: Think “quality backlink” when it comes to improving your website’s rank. Though linking out can be beneficial, it is links coming in to your site that count toward your rankings.
9. Myth: You can only do SEO when you finish building your site.
Truth: A more accurate answer is: it depends. When you first start building your website, you build a foundation. Website foundation building is similar to creating a blueprint or outline for what you want to see. So, you don’t yet know what to optimize on your site.
Have you done a lot of market research before building your site? If so, you may already know the most relevant keywords to use for your content. All in all, you will find that there are definitely some SEO activities you can’t do in the beginning phases of building your website.
1o. Myth: Great content is enough to get high rankings.
Truth: Think about going to a foreign country. Let’s say you only speak fluent English and you’re going to Hungary. If you try to speak English in a country that speaks predominantly Hungarian, you will be unable to effectively communicate. The same is true of website content. It has to make sense to Google and humans reading it. Thus, the need to make sure your tags, meta description, category, keywords, etc., are in place.
11. Myth: Any inbound link is good for SEO.
Truth: Probably, but every day Google penalizes websites with link farm backlinks and links with spammy reputations. The bottom line is that authentic, authoritative, high-quality content links skyrocket your site’s ranking.
12. Myth: You need to update your content constantly to rank.
Truth: The secret to getting and keeping a good rank is publishing quality, authoritative, target-market relevant, correctly formatted content. That answer may seem too simple to work, but this is what gets your site to rank.
13. Myth: Your site doesn’t need a blog.
Truth: Know how when you go to the grocery store and sometimes get food samples from vendors promoting new food products? That sample can mean the difference between you buying the product or walking away.
In a similar fashion, when you write a blog post, you publish information that showcases a sample of your expertise. It just might be useful in helping you make a sale.
Writing blog posts gives you links you can share with authority sites. You can use that link to make a point with a prospect. Blogs can be a venue for sharing industry news and what’s new at your company. You can also use blog post links to get quality backlinks. For all these reasons and others, you can use blog posts to help your website rank on Google organic search results for the long term.
14. Myth: Internal linking has no bearing on SEO.
Truth: Visitors like exploring your website for answers to make important decisions. Help them out with very useful internal links. They help in easily navigating your site. If site users can easily find what they seek, they are more likely to stay longer on your pages. The longer they stay, the more brownie points you get that may impact your rankings.
15. Myth: Your site doesn’t have to be mobile-friendly.
Truth: According to a September 2017 Outerbox article, “62% of smartphone users have made a purchase online using their mobile device in the last 6 months.” If you want to be included in sales made from smart devices, it really is necessary for your site to be mobile-friendly.
16. Myth: SEO is dead.
Truth: SEO is here to stay. According to Lisa Hirst Carnes of ArcStone, quality content keeps your company thriving! As online marketing continues to evolve, optimizing your content is your website’s lifeblood.
Get the Business Where it Needs to Go with these Best SEO Truths
The goal is to get people to your site and nurture them to become fans in memorable, engagement-friendly ways. Do this by working to provide authority and high quality, striving to make your website the most relevant authority in your niche. Using best SEO practices is a key step in getting there.
Have you structured some actions and strategies based on a myth? The truth is out. Share your thoughts in the comments!
