You may have always wondered why certain companies appear at the top of the list when you do a Google search for your desired term. However, there is a common misconception that once you build a website, it will begin to appear in search engine results; this is never the case. Positioning your website on the Internet without the assistance of your loyal partner, SEO, is only possible when elephants fly. With SEO strategies we are able to rank those terms in order to give results based on our audience’s search intent. However, some individuals misunderstand this and advocate unrealistic SEO strategies, which are generally referred to as myths. But we’re here to help you debunk common SEO myths and clear the cloud.
Duplicate Content Can Rank: Common SEO Myths
Duplicate content can only harm your search engine rankings. As a result, search engines will be unsure of which website to recommend to consumers. As a consequence, all of the sites that those search engines consider duplicate risk being ranked lower.
When Google indexes a site, it reviews the basic content of each page and determines if numerous pages on the same site have the same information; if so, those sites are scanned less often because Google picks the one it considers is the most competent and useful.
Quantity Over Quality of Backlinks
Earlier webmasters used to try to establish as many links to their site as possible using strategies such as blog commenting, site-wide footer links, participation in link directories, and so on. They thought the more links a site had, the better. But things have changed now. Search engines can now better detect the significance of connections and can readily identify “unnatural” links. The mentality of individuals who build links has also changed, and search engines can discern relevance, purpose, and connecting patterns. Most link builders don’t try to get links from every possible source. Instead, they try to get links from trusted sources that have a high PageRank or are seen as authoritative.
Keyword Cannibalization: Common SEO Myths
When you have too many similar or identical keywords spread all over your page, it refers to “keyword cannibalization”. There is a chance that a blog post you used on how to boost posts on Instagram is still ranking on the top of your pages after three years, even though the process, software, application, and trends to market your product have all changed. Modern algorithms react negatively to keyword stuffing, and as a result, your page performance becomes poorer and you drop in the rankings.
Google Only Ranks New Content
It’s only a myth that Google likes unique and fresh content, which becomes a ranking factor when it comes to a searched query. The case can be different for others as it completely depends on the freshness of the content query. Because SEO and the digital world are constantly evolving where updated content plays a key role in these SEO-related queries. When new content comes onto the web, many search queries are asked for it, so it is necessary to update our content for those incoming queries. This is how Google checks content quality while small updates on the website can play side-by-side, as the page’s freshness can never stay evergreen.
SEO is Dead: Common SEO Myths
This is more of a myth than anything else. You can say that SEO is dead, but only for those that use black-hat SEO to achieve a ranking. We say this because many black hat SEO strategists attempt to employ their method to gain a better position but are unable to do so once Google penalizes them. That is why such individuals perpetuate the myth that SEO is dead. To be honest, SEO is not dead. Only black-hat SEO tactics are no longer in use.
SEO is a One-time Thing
Implementing a plan and expecting results in a day. Is it even possible? Not at all. SEO requires regular checks and maintenance to achieve results.
You may wonder what makes SEO is a one-time thing a myth. Since SEO offers advantages such as speed and cost-effectiveness, you label it a myth. Though you can notice the improvements immediately, they will not last long owing to a lack of maintenance. You can also observe these effects dissipate rapidly, and you’ll be back with the first piece of the puzzle.
Page Speed Is Not A Ranking Factor
A Search Engine Results Page consisting of lightning-fast links can seem to be a satisfactory solution, but it can reject more relevant sites that take longer to load. This is when the claim that page speed is not a ranking factor begins to crumble. According to Google, relevance is the number one ranking factor. Fast pages can be delivered ahead of material that gives a better response to the user’s query if they are automatically enhanced. This would be a disservice to searchers since it would compromise quality for speed.
Conclusion:
The list goes on, but in case you are facing any further difficulties being able to rank your website, we can definitely help you. At Dymentions, we help young or small businesses to rank higher with our SEO services. To get your website’s free SEO audit, contact us today!