Doing a quick search for SEO (Search Engine Optimization, if you still don’t know by now – and you should) will show not thousands, but millions of results (232 million, to be exact). Needless to say that it’s a very hot topic, and that there are more than just a few optimization methods. But, hot topics bring along “hot myths” (or just myths). Of course, all of this can be very confusing to beginners, as they tend to do what they are told. This leads to the loss of valuable time “optimizing”, and expecting results when some things won’t even work in the end. That’s why here you will find a list of other common SEO myths and misconceptions. Keep reading to find out.
If you’re a beginner, it’s OK: it’s not your fault that people start spreading rumors and myths. It doesn’t mean you’ll have to stop listening to what everyone says at blogs, forums, or other source of information and spend your money on an SEO (Search Engine Optimizer, in this case). Most of the methods discussed at blogs or forums do work, but here are some common myths and misconceptions beginners tend to believe:
1. You need to submit your websites to search engines.
No, you don’t. This is actually one of the major selling points of SEO companies who offer “search engine submission services”. This isn’t really worth it, as you can do it yourself without having to pay dime. The truth is, you don’t need to submit your website to get listed – your site will be listed as long as other sites that are have a link to yours (forums, blogs, networks…)
2. You need to constantly resubmit your website every now and then.
No, you don’t. Search engines will always have your website listed once it gets there, unless you are penalized or removed from the index for unauthorized activities.
3. Having good META tags helps SEO
No, it doesn’t really help. In fact, search engine crawlers completely ignore META tags when ranking websites. Why? Because then the crawler’s job would be much harder, since everyone who has websites related to the same topic would overload their META tags in order to rank higher. Your web page title, however, is important.
4. Tricking search engines works
No, it doesn’t. It used to work some years ago, but with the advancements in technology, search engine crawlers or robots have become much smarter when it comes to ranking and indexing websites. The tricks that used to work before will not only be a waste of time, but also a possible penalization from the part of the search engine, which could lead to getting removed from the search engine’s index. There are a number of things you should avoid doing. Some of them are:
• The usage hidden text or links.
• Using cloaking or sneaky redirects.
• Sending automated queries to search engines.
• Loading pages with irrelevant keywords.
• Creating multiple pages, sub domains, or domains with repetitive duplicate content.
• Creating pages that install viruses, trojans, or other badware.
• Using “doorway” pages created just for search engines, or other “cookie cutter” approaches.
You can read more about this at each search engine’s webmaster guidelines if you want more information.
Instead of trying to trick search engines, spend your valuable time creating a good website with quality content that your visitors will like. This is one of the most important elements of SEO.
5. Links from websites, directories, or anything similar that are PR0 are not worth it.
Yes, they are. Not as much as a link from, say a PR6 website (PR means Page Rank, and it is mostly associated with Google. The scale goes from 0-10), but starting websites need as many quality links as they can get, so PR0 links are not always unnecessary.
So those are five of the many SEO related myths and misconceptions that can be found somewhere between the 230 million (and up) search results about the topic. Remember that managing your time well is one of the keys to success: don’t dedicate too much time to SEO, but don’t ignore it either. Try to find the perfect balance.
If you’re a beginner, it’s OK: it’s not your fault that people start spreading rumors and myths. It doesn’t mean you’ll have to stop listening to what everyone says at blogs, forums, or other source of information and spend your money on an SEO (Search Engine Optimizer, in this case). Most of the methods discussed at blogs or forums do work, but here are some common myths and misconceptions beginners tend to believe:
1. You need to submit your websites to search engines.
No, you don’t. This is actually one of the major selling points of SEO companies who offer “search engine submission services”. This isn’t really worth it, as you can do it yourself without having to pay dime. The truth is, you don’t need to submit your website to get listed – your site will be listed as long as other sites that are have a link to yours (forums, blogs, networks…)
2. You need to constantly resubmit your website every now and then.
No, you don’t. Search engines will always have your website listed once it gets there, unless you are penalized or removed from the index for unauthorized activities.
3. Having good META tags helps SEO
No, it doesn’t really help. In fact, search engine crawlers completely ignore META tags when ranking websites. Why? Because then the crawler’s job would be much harder, since everyone who has websites related to the same topic would overload their META tags in order to rank higher. Your web page title, however, is important.
4. Tricking search engines works
No, it doesn’t. It used to work some years ago, but with the advancements in technology, search engine crawlers or robots have become much smarter when it comes to ranking and indexing websites. The tricks that used to work before will not only be a waste of time, but also a possible penalization from the part of the search engine, which could lead to getting removed from the search engine’s index. There are a number of things you should avoid doing. Some of them are:
• The usage hidden text or links.
• Using cloaking or sneaky redirects.
• Sending automated queries to search engines.
• Loading pages with irrelevant keywords.
• Creating multiple pages, sub domains, or domains with repetitive duplicate content.
• Creating pages that install viruses, trojans, or other badware.
• Using “doorway” pages created just for search engines, or other “cookie cutter” approaches.
You can read more about this at each search engine’s webmaster guidelines if you want more information.
Instead of trying to trick search engines, spend your valuable time creating a good website with quality content that your visitors will like. This is one of the most important elements of SEO.
5. Links from websites, directories, or anything similar that are PR0 are not worth it.
Yes, they are. Not as much as a link from, say a PR6 website (PR means Page Rank, and it is mostly associated with Google. The scale goes from 0-10), but starting websites need as many quality links as they can get, so PR0 links are not always unnecessary.
So those are five of the many SEO related myths and misconceptions that can be found somewhere between the 230 million (and up) search results about the topic. Remember that managing your time well is one of the keys to success: don’t dedicate too much time to SEO, but don’t ignore it either. Try to find the perfect balance.
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