Darts miss the target
Written by Jane Simpson on March 15, 2021

15 Common Misconceptions about SEO

The world of Search Engine Optimisation is constantly changing and shifting, especially because Google’s trying to create the perfect algorithm which would lead to the most relevant results for the end-user. As that happens though, many industry standards get replaced by innovative solutions, leaving major misconceptions behind. Thus we’ve decided to review a few of the most common misconceptions about SEO.

Keywords and Links are Essential

Naturally, keywords play a huge part in the SEO strategy, however, if you’re on focusing on them to increase your rankings, then you will end up having a really bad experience. There are more than 200 factors evaluating the algorithm of Google’s search engine, do you think covering only two of them would be enough?

Quantity over Quality

Five years ago having 500 backlinks was certainly better than having 100. Nowadays a single backlink could be as good as a hundred of them.

Rankings over All

The end game of a good SEO strategy is to increase the ROI of the company. In that case, the ranking factor should be combined with the traffic of the website and the relevance of the targeted audience. It wouldn’t really matter much if you’re ranked #1 for “pink unicorns” but you’re trying to sell coffee.

Content over SEO

It’s true that the content is one of the biggest factors playing into the algorithm. However, its role is to engage the end-user, not bring it to the site in the first place.

Only Google Matters

As a matter of a fact, Google isn’t even the #1 search engine in China or Russia, two insanely huge markets. There are also more than 300 million people on Bing and Yahoo combined on a monthly basis. So think again.

SEO Only Lasts Until You get a Specific Rank

There’s no end to the SEO campaign, the current result might be satisfactory, however, unless you maintain the campaign’s quality, you could still hit rock bottom.

On-Page SEO is Optional

This is simply false, it’s one of the first things to be executed when starting an SEO campaign.

You need an Expert

While the expertise of an expert will make the whole process faster, smoother and most likely better, you could still learn to do everything on your own in a matter of a few months. There are plenty of resources online

High Traffic Equals High Ranking

Prepare yourself. Search engines simply do NOT know how much traffic your website gets, and they don’t care. There’re additional benefits that come with high traffic that do help the SEO though.

Promote Homepage Only

No, that’s basically like only training your biceps at the gym, an unhealthy approach for many reasons.

Meta Keywords Matter

In fact, Meta keywords mean literally nothing after Google’s last major update.

High Competition Can’t Be Beaten

I hear this way too often. It is indeed a challenge, however, everything is possible.

Stuffing Keywords is Good

As I previously mentioned, quantity means absolutely nothing when compared to quality.

Blackhat SEO Doesn’t Exist Anymore

Unfortunately, it does, and I do NOT recommend it.

Guest Post - The white hat method

No, many people use spammy black hat methods that include spinning poor-quality articles to build backlinks with Guest Posts.

Whilst you are brushing up on misconceptions, head over to read some of the worst SEO advice that is circulating!

Article written by Jane Simpson
My passion is anything to do with web design and SEO. Design is exciting and can inspire. Design gives me freedom of expression. SEO, outreach, in particular, lets me have fun meeting people. What more could a girl want out of work?
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