7 SEO Myths You Absolutely Thought Were True

There are a lot of fun myths we like to share with each other. We’ve all heard the one about the alligator in the sewer, or how lightning never strikes the same place twice. However, some myths can negatively affect your life or business, such as these prominent SEO myths. If you’re convinced of the truth of these dubious strategies, you could be wasting significant time and resources.

While SEO should always be done by a professional to ensure best practices are being used, beginners can definitely make an impact through basic SEO techniques. These myths we bust here are simple enough to be understood by anyone who is doing their own SEO!

Why SEO is Important

Of course, if you’re unfamiliar with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), or just why it’s so important, it’s worth taking a moment to get up to speed. SEO is a critical part of getting your business to appear in the top rankings on Google. Having your website linked on the first page, or especially in the first 5-10 results, makes a massive difference in how many people will click on your site and give your company a try.

SEO has both off-site and on-site components, which are equally essential but take different types of work to accomplish. Simply put, on-site SEO focuses on changes you can make to your website to improve your search rankings. This includes your page titles, metadata, alt text, and almost anywhere text is utilized on your site. On the other hand, off-site SEO focuses on external factors that impact your site’s search rankings. This can be a bit trickier as many off-site SEO strategies involve the participation of other parties. Still, there are always options open to you, such as social media. For much more detailed information, check out this blog.

Now that we understand why SEO is vital for your online success, let’s move on to these seven big SEO myths:

Myth 1: SEO is Dead

It’s understandable why some people might feel pessimistic about SEO. Search inquiries have gotten very specific, search engines are trying to keep people in their networks, and thousands of new businesses open every day. However, just because competition has increased doesn’t mean you don’t have real opportunities to benefit from SEO.

In our rapidly shifting technology landscape, nothing is certain. If your preferred social media went down tomorrow, how would anyone find you? Would you still be able to drive traffic to your business? SEO efforts have a stability and reliability that other options can struggle to match. What’s more, the results are still well worth investing in. According to 57% of B2B marketers, SEO produces more leads than any other marketing strategy. When it comes to B2C, SEO links have a 14.6% closure rate compared to only 1.7% for outbound leads.

Myth 2: Longer keywords Are Much Easier to Rank for

People think that it's easier to rank for these searches because long-tailed keywords are more specific. However, this doesn’t always play out the way you expect. Some long-tail keywords are often included in search results for much broader topics. Search algorithms such as Google’s can show the searcher-related pages that don’t contain the exact keyword. In other words, it’s a less popular way of searching for a popular topic.

Picking the right keywords is a delicate balance between keyword difficulty, traffic potential, and how worthy the traffic is. Ranking for a keyword that doesn't bring you any qualified leads is worthless. It takes thought, practice, and careful observation to find the keywords that will strike the right balance for your particular business.

Myth 3: Just Having a Social Media Page Boosts Your Rankings

This myth is a bit of a half-truth. Simply creating empty pages for your business on Facebook, Instagram, or other platforms isn’t going to improve your performance on Google. Even posting every day isn’t a guarantee for success, although it certainly helps.

While the basic existence of a social media site for your business doesn’t mean you’ll rank higher, when search engines see that your social media sites are credible, shared often, and post high-quality content, they’re more likely to consider you a valued brand. Over time, this factor can indeed improve your SEO results and get your business up higher on search rankings.

Myth 4: SEO Doesn’t Change

SEO does have a set of basic principles that have been effective for some time, and probably always will be. However, to get truly effective results, you can’t just “set it and forget it.” Google updates its algorithm thousands of times a year. Most of these changes are quite small, but still, impact search rankings. Moreover, they demonstrate that it takes focus and frequent attention to keep your SEO up to date.

While you don’t have to revamp your website’s SEO every year completely, it’s important to stay on top of major developments in the field and occasionally tweak things to achieve the best results. It takes an agile and experienced approach to get the most out of your SEO.

Myth 5: SEO Happens Quickly

When it comes to SEO, everyone wants quick results. However, the work is not as simple and straightforward as it might appear from the outside. Our SEO team gets asked all the time, “how long does SEO take?” While the timeline changes on a case-by-case basis, SEO, in general, can take up to a year to start seeing concrete results. However, there are ways to boost that timeline and get strong results sooner.

SEO takes time and patience, and it’s not a one-time deal. It’s an investment that requires maintenance and ongoing attention to see any sustainable results. Any changes to your website can extend out timelines, as each change will take time to make an impact after completion. It’s key to understand that the unique benefits of an SEO strategy are for the long haul, not a quick and radical boost to your web traffic.

Myth 6: Google Penalizes Duplicate Content

A common myth we hear is, "If you have content on your website that is duplicated elsewhere on the web, Google will penalize you for it." This is something of a misconception. Posting duplicate content just means your second source of content won't outrank the first source, but you're not actually penalized for sharing the same content on two platforms, such as your blog and LinkedIn.

However, if you have no legal right to be using said content, that's when Google could start to blacklist your website. It might help to think about it this way: if you create content you’re proud of, you can post it wherever you want without worrying about damaging your SEO. If you’re using someone else’s content, you’ll end up worse off than you started.

Myth 7: PPC Advertising Helps Rankings

Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising definitely has its uses. They can work for you when incorporated into a larger, well-considered marketing strategy. However, they aren’t a miracle solution for improving your Google rankings.

Just because you have an ad that shows up at the top of a results page doesn't mean you will outperform the websites that actually rank for it organically. The only reason your site is the first result is that you pay for it to be there. Once your ads stop, your traffic is completely cut off. Only organic, professional SEO work has the potential to last.

Key Takeaways

It might be discouraging to have some of these SEO myths busted, and see just how complicated these search engine algorithms can be. However, information is power, and the sooner you start adapting your strategy to the truth, the sooner you can improve your web traffic and your business’s performance overall. And ultimately, you can make real improvements to your SEO through a few simple steps. Follow best practices to keep your website on good terms with Google and keep updated with new trends and developments in SEO.

If you’re concerned you don’t have time for that or prefer a more professional approach, the team here at Zoek would be more than happy to help you. Our trained SEO experts have helped hundreds of businesses improve their SEO and climb up the search engine rankings. Just click here to book your free consultation with someone from our SEO team and learn how we can increase your organic traffic.

Kellyann Doyle is a Content Marketing Writer at Zoek, an SEO, Web Design, and Digital Marketing Agency that assists small and medium-sized businesses with their online footprint. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in 2013 from the University of Houston with a Major in Communications and a Minor in Marketing and has been working in the Digital Marketing world ever since. When not working, you can find Kellyann trying new recipes, enjoying a good nap, or watching Friends for the 500th time.