When it comes to SEO, there are some things that are considered to be pretty common knowledge. However, some of these commonly known ‘SEO facts’ are actually SEO myths. Some of them used to be true, while others have always been a little bit misleading.
How many of these SEO myths did you believe to be facts?
Repeating your keyword as often as possible is great for your SEO
This was true, a very long time ago. Google’s algorithm has moved on leaps and bounds since this was the case. In fact, believing in this myth could actually hurt your SEO efforts.
It’s still the case that keywords are important, and that they need to be included in your content, However, Google can now understand synonyms and is better equipped to measure user intent and match it against the results.
When writing content for your website, making it as user-friendly and easy to read as possible will always be the best strategy. Use your keyword naturally, and include synonyms if they’re relevant.
Title tags have to be 70 characters or less
This one has an element of truth to it. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the case that the title tag length affects your search engine ranking. However, when creating content this is still a good rule to stick to.
Title tags over 70 characters tend to not display the whole title in the search results – which can cost you in clicks. Making your title short enough to be displayed in full means searchers will be more confident that your content is what they are looking for.
Google favors older websites
Many people believe that new websites don’t have the same chance to rank as older, more established websites. This one is definitely a myth, we’ve launched plenty of client websites that have ranked high straight off the bat. So why is it such a commonly held belief?
It’s basically due to the fact that a lot of factors that help you rank take time to build up. So it can definitely look like older websites have a ranking boost purely because of the age of the domain. However, that is simply because having a good amount of content and strong backlinks takes time.
The same goes for ‘big-name’ websites. Yes, big brands will usually rank higher than smaller businesses for the same keywords. It’s not because Google automatically favors those big brands – it’s simply that these brands invest heavily in their SEO proposition.
Newer sites and smaller businesses can still build their ranking up pretty quickly with the right focus, and once you have a strong strategy in place you are able to rank alongside or even higher than older, more established websites.
Keeping that rank is then a matter of maintaining and building on your content and backlinks, and keeping up to date with changes to SEO – otherwise, a newer website might just steal your spot! Which brings us to the last myth…
SEO is a one-time exercise
It’s really surprising how many people still believe that you can ‘SEO’ your website, and then that’s the job finished. A one-time audit can certainly help identify and rectify any obvious issues, but the results from that won’t last without a good SEO strategy in place.
Google is constantly evolving and updating, so what worked to hit the first page in 2015 doesn’t necessarily work anymore. Plus, Google also favors fresh, relevant content. If you’re not regularly reviewing and updating your content, adding blog posts, etc then your rankings are likely to slowly fall.
Then there’s the fact that over time links are likely to become broken, and sites that were considered high authority for backlinks could become less valuable over time. A proper SEO strategy involves regular checks for these issues so that you can keep on top of them.