SEO is, the field of online marketing responsible for good visibility of pages in the search engine. how the Google algorithm works?
Where nothing is certain and everything changes constantly, myths are born there. This is what SEO is, an area of online marketing where facts and myths mix. Anyway, the latter is much more than certainties. Here are the 7 main SEO myths.
Myths in SEO
Myths have been with a man for a long time. Myths are always born where not everything can be rationally explained. Their goal is to organize the surrounding reality, to describe the principles that cannot be proved on the basis of science or are not commonly known. In those areas where there are more unknowns than facts, myths are the most numerous.
This is what SEO is, the field of online marketing responsible for good visibility of pages in the search engine. Thanks to activities in the field of positioning, you can improve the position of the website in search results. However, in fact, no one (except engineers from Mountain View, of course) knows how the Google algorithm works, what factors currently play the most important role in determining the website's position in search results.
In addition, these factors change constantly, which only two or three years ago were significant, today are only secondary indicators. Specialists in the promotion of websites in the search engine work in a state of great tension, because they are never sure whether the implemented solutions will bring the expected effect. Such a situation increases the formation of myths and referring to them in everyday activities. The most important of them are:
SEO is the source of free (or relatively cheap) traffic to your website - it's one of the biggest fairy tales, replicated in hundreds of articles, even on professional online marketing blogs. In order to take advantage of the benefits of "free organic traffic", you must first invest in activities aimed at making our website rank high in the search results for phrases related to the company's profile. It must be remembered that good visibility of the website in the search engine, and thus valuable traffic, can be achieved thanks to the knowledge, modern technology, and a lot of time and resources. In many very competitive industries, to enter the TOP5 you need a lot of patience and work.
SEO is the key to success on the Internet - many companies cling to this slogan tightly, in their online marketing activities focus or even limit themselves to implementing SEO strategies. It must be remembered that positioning is only one of the areas of internet marketing and only in a few cases can it significantly increase revenues. SEO should be one of the pillars of an integrated web marketing plan.
SEO is the optimization of the website's code for search engines - this is how this area of online marketing is most often defined. However, the website optimization itself is not enough to be regularly in TOP5. This is just the beginning of activities in this area. To beat the competition in the race to the first place, you should take care of at least valuable content and links leading to our site from sites related to the profile of our positioned site.
Without actions that do not comply with Google's guidelines, it is impossible to get to TOP5 - this is a myth often repeated in conversations between an interactive agency and a client. Often this "superstition" appears in the justification for the company's powerlessness, i.e. in the event of the agency's failure to promote the client's website in the search engine. Google strictly adheres to established general guidelines for allowed SEO actions. Today, most companies owe their high position in search results to a large amount of work and patience in implementing a designated SEO strategy in accordance with these guidelines.
Without repeating keywords many times on the page, there is no effect - this is one of the most common SEO mistakes. It must be clearly emphasized once that the era based on texts with multiple, sometimes without any logical justification, repetitions of positioned phrases is long gone and there is no indication that it will ever return. Today, Google can correctly decode the subject of the page based on the general context, industry terms and whole phrases contained in the text (not necessarily those specifically positioned) and appropriately assign them to the right queries.
" Duplicate content " is a crime in SEO - generally, Google does not provide penalties for duplicating content. The sanction that can be applied in this case is the so-called filter. Simply put, when the algorithm finds two or more pages with identical content, they will simply display the one it deems the most reliable and original in the search results. It should also be remembered that as in scientific literature, also on the Internet it is permissible to publish quotations or refer to sources. If we publish an excerpt of an article and link to the original source with the rel = "canonical" attribute, we will not incur any consequences, and any credit for the value of the text will be attributed to the original.
Paid results (sponsored links within the AdWords system) affect organic results - many interactive agencies "sell" such a fairy tale to their clients. It is not easy to guess that the most common purpose is to extend the contract for the provision of services in the field of advertising AdWords. There is no convincing evidence that paid results affect a page's organic ranking. Google emphasizes that despite the similarity between paid and natural results, it emphasizes that they are not related. This does not mean that companies that will be present in top positions in paid and natural results will not be better visible in the search engine. Will be!
A regular presence in TOP5 means higher profits - such regularity is not always really justified in the company's revenues. You have to remember that being in the first position, the company will not always attract all traffic from a given phrase. The user's choice is influenced not only by the location (although this is usually the case) but also by the title and description of the page. If they sound interesting and appealing, the company from further positions may attract the attention of the largest number of users. It is also worth bearing in mind that not every phrase will generate a large number of customers (e.g. it will not be used often by customers).
The more backlinks the better - this rule, if it used to be at all, lost its force long ago. Today it is the quality of external links that counts, not the quantity. The website's position in the results is most influenced by links from websites thematically related to the positioned website, which are trusted by the search engine and have a reputation among users. It is also important that links to the promoted site do not come from one or two sites. A diverse profile of valuable links is one of the key factors in SEO today.
Content is everything in SEO - valuable content, while it is currently one of the three most important factors in SEO, doesn't mean that your site's position depends only on them. Content should be part of the entire SEO strategy, apart from optimizing the website code, building a link base or adapting the website to mobile users.
Summary
Despite the fact that SEO is an area full of secrets and unknowns, it is very important in the online marketing mix. Virtually no online marketing strategy will be effective if it does not include positioning activities. It is only worth remembering that sometimes it is not worth fighting for the first position. With a little creativity (including attractive titles and page descriptions), you can generate valuable traffic even from the second or third position. However, most importantly, SEO is not an area whose goal is to rank highest in the results for the sake of the site itself, but a strategy that allows you to effectively reach a selected target group of search engine users. And this is worth remembering.
