8 SEO Myths Debunked
One of my favorite pastimes is debunking SEO myths – and there are many! I could probably come up with 100 SEO-related ideas or actions that people think are helpful, but which in reality won’t provide them with more targeted traffíc to their websites.
Here are some of the more prevalent myths I hear and see bandied about in SEO articles, at SEO conferences, in SEO blogs and on SEO forums:
SEO Myth #1: You Need Special Search Engine Pages.
While it’s not as prevalent as it used to be, we still get calls from companies who want us to create some sort of “SEO landing pages.” While landing pages often make sense for paid search campaigns such as Google AdWords, they’re unnecessary for organic SEO campaigns. Well, I shouldn’t say that they’re unnecessary – it’s just that your SEO landing pages shouldn’t be something outside of your site. They should already exist as an integral part of it. If those aren’t currently bringing you search engine traffic, it doesn’t mean you need to add new pages, it means you have to optimize your existing ones better.
SEO Myth #2: You Need to Optimize for Just One Keyword Phrase Per Page.
Many, many SEOs and businesses believe that you should optimize each page of your site for just one keyword phrase. Their thinking is that you will keep a strong focus on that one keyword phrase. The problem with this is, first, it’s very difficult if not impossible to write a page in a natural manner while you’re trying to focus on just one keyword phrase. And second, it’s a waste of a good page!
Why optimize for just one keyword phrase when you can optimize it for 3 or even 5 keyword phrases? The more keyword phrases you optimize a page for (within reason), the more targeted search engine traffic you will receive. If you look at your web analytics right now, you’ll typically see that each page of your site is already bringing in traffic from various forms of numerous keyword phrases. It’s not only okay to optimize for more than one phrase, but in my opinion it’s critical to your website and to search engine success.
SEO Myth #3: You Can’t Use Tables in Your HTML Code.
This one makes me want to scream. HTML tables have been easily spiderable by search engines since the search engines were newly hatched. As far as I know, table code hasn’t ever been anything that choked the search engines. I think this myth was propagated by website developers who advocate tableless designs to make you think you’ll somehow get better rankings out of their designs. You won’t.
SEO Myth #4: You Must Use Text Links, not Image Links.
Nope. Like tables, the search engines have been able to follow and index image links since their very early days. You certainly don’t have to ruin a beautiful website design that uses images for the primary navigation because you think it’s better for SEO. Just be sure to use the same words you’d use in your anchor text links in your image alt attribute text (alt tags), and you’ll be good to go for the search engines.
SEO Myth #5: You Can’t Use Flash on Your Website.
Yes, you can! While I don’t recommend that you create your entire website in Flash, using bits of Flash here and there for some cool effects will not bother or choke the search engines in the least. They don’t punish, penalize or otherwise nuke into oblivion sites that have Flash on them. You should of course avoid putting important content into your Flash elements, and also remember that some mobile devices such as the iPhone and iPad don’t support Flash. But if you add alternative text for non-Flash-enabled browsers, all should be well.
SEO Myth #6: Google’s Link: Operator Tells You All the Links that Google Knows About.
No, no, and double no! Typing link:www.yoursite.com into Google’s search box often won’t even show you any links, let alone all of your links. And when it does show you some, they’re usually not the best ones. Don’t even bother to use this command because it is useless at best. While there are some helpful tools that can find some backward links, there is no foolproof method for finding out about all the links that point to your site or to your competitors’ sites. The good news is, just because you can’t find them all doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Keep making a great site and getting the word out about it, and you’ll keep building up your link profile, whether or not you can generate an accurate list of them.
SEO Myth #7: Toolbar PageRank = Real PageRank.
Most people who’ve learned a bit about SEO have seen Google’s PageRank toolbar graph at one point or another. It supposedly shows the importance in Google’s eyes of any given URL. Unfortunately, it’s not even close to an accurate representation of any page’s importance to Google.
That said, don’t let that fact lull you into thinking that PageRank – that is, the real PageRank that Google, Inc. knows about your website – is not important. It’s extremely important in how your site will perform in the search results for your targeted keyword phrases; there’s just no way for you to truly know exactly what it is.
SEO Myth #8: Google or other organizations can certify SEO companies or declare them the Best/Top SEO in the world.
Despite what some SEO companies would like you to believe, there is no such thing as an SEO certification. No organization currently exists that can certify that any company is qualified to perform search engine optimization services. There are no definitive tests that an SEO company can take to prove that they are qualified, and there are no courses that, when passed, will prove that a company can do SEO. Yes, there are courses people can take that will provide them with a certificate of completion for that course, but don’t ever believe that a certificate of that sort has any real meaning beyond the completion of the course.
There are also lists and directories of SEO companies who pay a fee for the honor of being labeled the “#1 SEO company!” If you are ever in the market for SEO services, don’t let those fake paid-for awards trick you into thinking that the SEO company must be good or the best. While it’s possible they may be a perfectly fine company, they may not be. Paying for a “best” label doesn’t magically make a company any good. It just means they are willing to spend the money it takes to purchase the label. Much to the surprise of unwitting SEO clients, award sites are not actual rating or ranking SEO companies based on any skill sets.
Have you fallen for any of these SEO myths before?
About The Author
Jill Whalen, CEO of High Rankings and co-founder of SEMNE, has been performing SEO services since 1995. Jill is the host of the High Rankings Advisor newsletter and the High Rankings SEO forum.
Source : Seo-News
Concise Guide to the Most Common SEO Mistakes
It is time to reveal the 10 most common SEO mistakes committed by website owners the world over.
If you are not too happy about your website’s ranking on the search engines, then look through this list and make sure that your website is not committing any of these mistakes.
I’ve decided to divide this article into 2 sections: on page SEO and off page SEO mistakes. As you read through this article, you will realize that the mistakes covered here are all based on my previous articles about SEO.
On Page SEO Mistakes
This section refers to SEO mistakes made on your actual website.
1. Not Targeting 1 Keyword Per Page
This is the most important facet of on page SEO yet so many people are either unaware of its importance or forget to do it. It’s heaps easier to target a single keyword per page than to target 10 keywords per page. At the very maximum, you can target 2 keywords, but you should try to keep it to just one. Focusing your efforts on 1 keyword per page will get greater results quicker.
2. No Keyword In URL
The URL of each page should have the keyword you are targeting for that page. If it doesn’t, then it’s just going to be harder for you to get that page ranking for that target keyword. Fix up your URL if you have to because this is crucial to SEO success.
3. No Keyword in Title Tag
I cannot count the number of pages I’ve seen that don’t have their target keyword in the title tag. Just in case you’re not aware, the title tag is what appears at the top of your browser when you’re on a webpage. This is the one mistake I see the most because it is so obvious when I visit a webpage. It’s surprising how many home pages of websites have the word “Home” in their title tags. You MUST have the target keyword in your title tag because it will make a huge difference to your SEO efforts. This is certainly one of the top 10 SEO mistakes out there today.
4. Bad Use of Meta Description and Meta Keywords
The most common mistake regarding meta description is people not using it at all. Just in case you weren’t aware, the meta description is a short description which is used to describe your website in search engine result listings. You should use it to encourage people to visit your website when they find you on the search engines. It also doesn’t hurt to have your target keyword there.
Regarding meta keywords, the most common mistake people commit is putting too many keywords there. You should limit yourself to a maximum of 5 to 8 keywords because putting more will only get you punished by the search engines for keyword spamming.
5. Bad Keyword Density
Unfortunately, many people are still committing this grave SEO mistake. Some are mentioning their target keyword as much as possible on their webpage to try and get it to rank highly. It used to work in the early days on the Web when engines were not intelligent, but these days it can only result in your websites getting penalized or even banned.
On the other hand, there are also people who do not use their keyword enough on their webpages. This is equally bad because it means that the search engines have no idea as to what keyword your webpage is trying to rank highly for.
The goal should be a keyword density of 3% which is not too much and just enough for good SEO.
Off Page SEO Mistakes
This section refers to SEO mistakes made outside your website, but which hamper your website’s ability to rank highly on the search engines.
6. Bad Keyword Research
Keyword research is the basis for SEO success. If you target keywords with a high level of competition, then your ability to rank highly and get traffic will be diminished in the short term. On the other hand, you should not simply target keywords because of low competition because there may not be enough people searching for that keyword. It’s all about finding a balance between the number of searches and the number of websites competing for that keyword. Using tools such as the Google Keyword Tool can help you achieve that objective.
7. No Keyword in Anchor Text
Off page SEO is all about building backlinks aka links back to your website. Nevertheless, while doing that, most people forget to put their keywords in the anchor text of the backlink. For example, if “computer repairs” was the primary keyword of your website, then you want to be sure that computer repairs is in the anchor text, just like in the following:
“Visit the best computer repairs service in town.”
Please note that the above is just an example.
This must be one of the most simple top 10 SEO mistakes committed today.
8. No Anchor Text Variety
While it’s great to use your target keyword in the anchor text of your backlinks, you must also mix and match with other keywords. In other words, if you use the same keywords in the anchor text of 100 links, then the search engines will regard this as suspicious and will penalize your website. For this reason, you should find about 5 other related keywords and use them in your anchor text too. The greater the variety, the better your SEO results will be.
9. No Link Source Variety
There are plenty of ways to get backlinks. One of the top 10 SEO mistakes committed, however, is using only a minimal number of link sources. For example, some people simply use article marketing to get their backlinks. Others just use social media. You need to be using a variety of sources to get your backlinks. The reason why this is the case is that the more sources you utilize, the more natural the backlinks will appear to the search engines, and the higher your site will rank.
10. No Natural Build Up of Links
Building on the previous mistake, you have to make sure that the number of backlinks your website gets takes place in a natural, human-like manner. For instance, getting 300 links in just a single week will certainly grab the attention of the search engines and as a result, they will punish your website accordingly. However, if you get 300 links over the course of a month, then that will appear to be more natural and they will more likely than not reward you.
Fix Them and Then Avoid Them
I suggest that you go through all of your websites and see whether they are committing the SEO mistakes covered in this post. After correcting them, it’s all about avoiding these common SEO mistakes so that your websites get the rankings and traffic they deserve.
About The Author
Martin Sejas provides an Internet marketing consulting service for people who want to establish an online presence for their business or dramatically improve their current online presence today. You can register for a free consultation today. www.internetmarketingadvice.com.au
The Search Engine Optimizing Industry
One such tool is the “Web History” utility that is now available to all users of Google Search. Using this tool, Google will collect information about the sites you visit and use it to generate a better response to your queries. Some of the key points of the utility are:
1) The ability to view and manage your web activity – search across the full text of the pages you’ve visited, including Google Searches, web pages, images and news stories.
2) Get search results that are more personalized and based on the things you’ve searched for on Google and the sites you’ve visited.
3) Get reports on your trends and web activity – how many searches did you conduct and at what time of the day. Which sites do you frequent the most?
You can read more about the capabilities and features of Web History at: www.google.com/psearch .
How will Web History affect the Search Engine industry?
It will help Google provide you with results that you want to see the most, and, when combined with another tool in the beta process, will help discard items that you are not interested in seeing in your search results.
Want to try an experiment?
Break out your google goggles and let’s get started! Begin by creating a user account with Google. Then turn Web History on for a week or so, and chase your tail looking at keywords that are specific to the ranking of your website or a site you are maintaining. Check several times a day, closing and relaunching your browser each time you check. Eventually you are going to see a message near the top of the window that the results of your search are being influenced by… you guessed it… Web History. Pay attention to where your site is ranking with Web History turned on.
Now, after a week of allowing “Web History” to collect some information… go to your google account and turn it off, and check your page positions on Google for the same Keywords? Did you see any difference? You betcha! Google is watching you and capturing your behavior and they are manipulating your search results to match your expectations and what they perceive is your preference based on the “experiences” they have collected from you. If Web History perceives that Blue Donuts by a particular manufacturer are important to you in the majority of your searches, they will bubble to the top of the page while other Blue Donuts by different manufactures will sink lower and lower.
Is it the end of the Search Engine Optimizing Industry?
Probably not, factors that will account for the appearance of one site’s links above another may not be completely limited to the users interaction and preference in the future. Other traditional factors such as content and page ranking may continue to play a part in getting the position on the page ahead of some of the clients perceived preferences, in addition to other new developments currently underway.
Does it end here?
I for one don’t think so. There’s at least two more prominent areas where Google can capture user preferences and then modify the result set to meet their expectations, and they are actively testing or running programs to do exactly that right now. I’ll cover the second area in my next article. “There’s Room for 10″.
This is my first online article and I’d like to thank those that have taken the time to read it. I hope you will find this useful and that it might stimulate some additional discussion on the subject material covered.
