Plug the phrase “SEO is dead” (sans quotes) into Google, and you will get a long list of results telling you why it is. Plug the phrase “SEO isn’t dead” or something to that effect into Google, and, again, you will get a myriad of results that agree with that, too. Doing research with confirmation bias built in will tell you whatever you want to hear, but almost none of the rhetoric will solve visibility or ranking issues for your website or blog. What will is understanding the facts, so here they are:
FACT: SEO is not dead. There. I said it. SEO is alive and well, and you need to understand how it works.
FACT: There are as many definitions of what good SEO is as there are marketers to poll.
FACT: SEO is not a cookie-cutter process. No two websites are created equal in the eyes of Google.
FACT: Most marketers still have only a surface knowledge of what SEO is and what it entails. If it comes as a surprise to you that it has to do with more than keywords, sorry, you’re part of that group (but we’re about to help fix that, so you’re welcome).
With the facts laid bare, let’s talk about several pervasive myths that even large corporations still believe and why you need to abandon them.
MYTH #1: SEO Is a One-Time Thing
Many marketers view SEO as something that gets built into their website and is maintained solely by having some static content that includes seemingly important keywords.
The Truth
SEO is a complex and ongoing process. Yes, it revolves heavily around a well-constructed, well-presented, responsive website, but there is much more to it than that. Sitewide SEO is just the foundation. You build on it by constantly creating and publishing optimized content and by constantly revising your SEO strategy to meet market demands.
The primary thing you need to focus on in written copy is still keywords, but many marketers’ perceptions of how to use keywords are really, really off. I’ve mentioned before that the market shifts quickly and that it is important to keep up with keyword trends, and that is still very true. The problem is in how some marketers gauge the effectiveness of the keywords they use. That brings us to our next myth…
MYTH #2: It’s Important to Rank Number 1 for a Specific Keyword
Too many marketers become fixated on keyword rankings and fail to see the much bigger picture. If we were still living in 1997, they would be absolutely right. Gun for the pole position with the most popular keyword in your niche. That’s fine if you want to rank on AOL, but today’s search engines are much more complex.
The Truth
Google’s algorithm looks at so many elements these days (page format, content quality, user experience, relevant messaging, etc.), it can actually be SEO suicide to fixate too much on keywords.
A keyword saturation of just over 1 percent is plenty if you are following current trends and giving the market what they want. This is why you want to work with entities like your hosting provider, SEO specialist, and custom writing service to stay on top of those trends.
MYTH #3: Google Killed SEO
Really? Are we still sore about the whole Penguin update thing? There are still marketers out there who think that the process has gotten too complicated and that Google has ostensibly killed everyone else’s businesses by making it harder to achieve good rankings.
The Truth
Google is a business with a responsibility to its users. That responsibility revolves around delivering the best quality service possible. Back in the day, it was common practice to inundate webpages with keywords – hundreds of keywords – in an effort to get the attention of the search engines. Usually, this meant making the text and background colors the same and just embedding keywords that most site visitors would never actually see.
It was a years-long practice and one that was, for its time, reasonably effective. Anyone who can think that far enough back, however, also knows how much garbage content actually made it onto the front pages of SERPs.
Google’s goal has always been to provide the most relevant search results. That means that good ranking is now a collaborative effort between the marketer and the search platform. You can’t hoodwink search engines into ranking your pages anymore; you have to earn the privilege.
MYTH #4: Link Building Is Dead
More and more marketers are claiming that backlinks aren’t doing them any good anymore. Well, there’s a reason for that (a few, actually).
The Truth
Back-linking is neither white- nor black-hat. It’s a huge gray area that comes down to effective and reasonable practices. The search engines can tell if you’re seeding forums with backlinks. They can tell when you’re inserting links into conversations on social media without relevance. These things won’t necessarily get your site blacklisted, but they won’t help your rankings, either.
Your smartest move is to do your best to generate organic backlinks, particularly via social media, which leads to my last point…
MYTH #5: Social Media Doesn’t Affect SEO
It amazes me how many marketers view social media as an island unto itself. All you need to do is expand your reach on the networks where you have a presence, right? Wrong…
The Truth
Social media is one of the best ways to generate organic backlinks and drive site traffic. Through a comprehensive content marketing strategy, social media can be a powerful tool for increasing rankings. I’ve done several past pieces that cover how, so I’ll leave you to peruse the rest of the blog to learn more about that.
Final Thoughts
There are so many myths and misconceptions about SEO it would be impossible to list them all here. If you want to learn more about (and get the most out of) current SEO trends, plug in with people who deal with SEO every day. Don’t go searching for articles that agree with what you think you know. SEO is a big deal, and it is becoming a bigger one every day. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, and don’t grow lax in your content optimization efforts.
