SEO is important. I know it, you know it, your pet goldfish knows it. So, there’s no need to lecture you on the crucialness of SEO because you’ve probably heard it a thousand times.
However, what you might not be aware of is the deceitful myths bouncing around the technosphere regarding SEO. If you believe these myths, you’ll be either wasting your time, or even doing some damage to your rankings..
At stickee, we’ve got plenty of experience in search engine marketing. We want to highlight some of the most prominent myths for you. And explain just why they’re a total load of nonsense.
Tin hats at the ready people, we’re going mythbusting…
Myth 1 – SEO is about getting to #1 in Google
Whilst this is great it’s not the magic answer. There can be a tendency to assume that having one specific keyword at #1 means you’ll get tons of visitors and you are the master of SEO.
Whilst running Mobilephones.com, a phone comparison website, we found that having more keywords ranking in the top 100 pages had a bigger effect than trying to get 2 or 3 in the top spot. For instance, if you relied merely on the keyword ‘mobile phones’ at #1 to get you the best results, you’d be putting all your eggs in one basket. What you should be doing instead is hedging your bets.
Continuing the example; ‘mobile phones news’, ‘mobile phones sales’ or ‘mobile phones guides’ might not get to #1, but they will broaden your results options. Therefore, improving your long-term SEO chances.
Myth 2 – More pages equals better SEO
Wrong wrong wrong.
Lots of pages isn’t necessarily a bad thing in itself, but only if there’s a purpose to it. You want them to be talking about something unique that will stand out amongst search engines. User friendliness must be appreciated as well. If you start cluttering your site with tons of pages, you’ll make the experience for the user worse, and put potential clients off.
Search engines recognise quality. And as with most things, it’s quality over quantity. Google prefers you to write naturally and not to fill your websites with pages and links just for the sake of it. If you write in a way that is obviously attempted to obtain better SEO, it will penalise you.
Myth 3 – There’s no need to optimise your images
Computer says no.
Image optimisation can be great for your website. Over the years, we’ve worked on several projects where loads of clicks have come from image search. Especially if your products are physical objects such as phones, cars or clothing. Too much focus can be put on written content. Insomuch as concentrating on the inclusion of internal and external links, and keyword research. These along with tags, which are another key function, are of course necessary. However, images shouldn’t be dismissed in lieu of written copy.
Ensure your images are tagged correctly or you could be missing out on clicks. Images draw the eye and provide a user with a visually realist idea of what you’re offering. They undoubtedly play a vital role in boosting a business’ SEO.
Myth 4– Social media has no impact on SEO
Probably best not to write that on Facebook as you may get laughed at.The internet has moved on from 20 and even 10 years ago. Social media isn’t the most pivotal factor in SEO, but it certainly helps emphasise to search engines your company’s reputation. People want to view quality content that is from a credible source. (LINK) If your company is deemed as credible, it will lead to better SERPs (search engine results page).
SEO expert consultant Rod Gardner says that businesses must use the right social media platform to promote their content. Otherwise this myth could well have some legs. You’ll be wasting the audience’s time who will have no interest in what you’re offering. Gardner adds ‘you want your audience to value your content and to share it with like minded individuals’.
There’s an increasing demand for content and more and more ways of discovering it. Social media has helped massively with content distribution and more and more people are discovering content. Our analytics team have researched the effects of social media, concluding that social media accounts can be in top 10 search results when searching for a brand name. Hence, Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn are often the first port of call when Googling a company.
Myth 5 – Good user experience isn’t essential
Our experience tells us otherwise. As mentioned previously, user friendliness is very important. The last thing you want to do it risk losing clients due to confusing websites or convoluted web structures.
Google have started looking at websites and ensuring the experience is good for the end user. Your SERPs will take a knock unless you optimise for mobile and make sure pop-ups aren’t covering relevant content.
Business Development Director at stickee, Dan Richards, believes “As a rule of thumb, you as an individual have to believe that your experience is great, if you don’t then users won’t – be honest with yourself. Would your website appeal to you as an end user?”
So much is happening on web now, it’s important to stay competitive or you’ll end up bottom of the pile. In the technology business, you have evolve as the technology does. You can’t afford to stand still.
Conclusion
With the idea of keeping moving fresh in the mind, it’s time to take your SEO out for a walk, whilst keeping it on a tight lead. It’s crucial to stay on top of it and play into your audience’s hands. Make your content as easy for them to follow as possible, but ensure it’s appropriate for the audience you’re targeting. And next time you hear one of these myths, ignore it! If you want to boost your business’ chances in a competitive environment, you’ve got to do everything in your power to provide the best opportunity.
If you have any questions about SEO myths, stickee is happy to answer them! You can contact us here.
