The world around us is changing at a fast pace. Technology is also evolving with each passing day. This often leads to confusion and misconceptions in the minds of people. In 2021, it’s easier to stop a rocket from getting launched than to stop a myth from spreading. Thus, here we have debunked 5 common SEO Myths.
#1. Blackhat Techniques Work
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Anything that has started with wrong intentions and wrong techniques will give a negative result someday. Blackhat SEO is that shortcut that might take you nowhere.
There was a time when search engines were not as smart as they are today and several blackhat SEO practitioners used techniques like link farming, content spinning, link spamming, and so on and made their way to the top ranks in SERPs.
But today, both the audience and search engines are quite smart and can easily differentiate between a trustworthy site and a low-quality site.
Thus, in 2021, it’s nothing but a myth that blackhat SEO techniques still work. In fact, they might land you in real trouble and you may lose the trustworthiness of your brand and website.
#2. SEO Is Dead
Image Source: TFC Marketing
This myth has been around for quite a long time. This myth is based on people’s perceptions of SEO. There are many ways in which people see SEO in today’s world.
For some people, SEO is all about stuffing keywords into excessively long written posts while for some people SEO might be just another shortcut technique to make your page rank higher on SERPs.
These techniques are dead, indeed. But, SEO is not dead. SEO includes lots of steps and needs strategic planning. It’s not any internet hack that can make your site rank higher instantly.
It’s not relevant anymore to write content only for SEO. As the algorithms of search engines keep changing, now users’ intent and experience matter the most.
Yes, we can say that SEO has changed a lot in the past few years and it has changed for the better. The ranking of a website on SERPs depends on many factors that every website owner needs to pay attention to.
#3. Ranking is Influenced by Social Signals
Image Source: Search Engine Journal
This might be a part of your marketing sales funnel to direct your followers towards your website. While this can increase traffic to your site, as per John Muller and Search Engine Journal, this doesn’t directly impact your site’s rank on SERPs.
The reason behind this is simple – Social media followers can be bought. Likes and comments can be generated in large numbers through various tools.
Yes, there are times when Social Signals do impact your site’s visibility on SERPs. This happens when-
- Videos or blogs from your website rank higher on SERPs and gather lots of organic traffic.
- Search engines find your content relevant on social media channels like Youtube and Pinterest to show up on the result’s page.
#4. Keyword Research Doesn’t Matter
Image Source: The Left Bank School
With innumerable changes in Google policies and after launching several algorithms such as Google Hummingbird, people have started believing that keywords do not matter at all! Well, it’s again a myth.
Yes, the focus of search engines has shifted from keywords to search intent but that doesn’t mean that your site will rank automatically for thousands of keywords related to your niche. You’ll still have to decide your focus keyword and work more extensively on keyword research.
The fact is that search engines like Google have stopped focusing merely on keywords and have started focusing on content quality and UX as well. So, now all three factors in the SEO of your page equally.
#5. Links Outweigh Content
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You might have people saying that links are the most important part of SEO. That’s nothing but another SEO myth. The most essential element influencing SEO is content, and websites should prioritize content quality over link acquisition.
Links are indeed important to drive traffic into your website but it’s true only when the links are located at relevant and trustworthy places. One link at the wrong place can reduce the trustworthiness of your site.
Also, when site builders focus too much on link building and too little on content development, the website’s bounce rate increases that negatively impact the ranking of your page and the entire SEO of your website.
Conclusion
We can’t stop misconceptions and myths from spreading so we choose to put our efforts into debunking those myths and providing people the right knowledge. We suggest you always double-check any fact before believing in it so that you always stay on the right path. Good luck!v
