SEO is a big industry and it is surrounded by many myths. Here are some prevalent myths that we need to debunk:
- Meta tags are critical for SEO: In reality, meta tags don’t have direct effect in ensuring higher search engine ranks. Bots prioritize keywords in our content and whether readers actively search for specific keywords in our website. We could add keywords in meta tags, but only for notifying search engines about main topics. It should be noted that meta tags that are bloated with keywords will cause penalization.
- We need to submit our website regularly: In general, it isn’t really necessary to submit our website. Search engines see real values of our website after it has received genuine inbound link from other relevant website. It is acceptable to submit our website for the first time search engine, but it is only to notify about the presence of our website. Our website can be indexed faster if it contains plenty of unique information that’s not available in other websites. Search engine bots love fresh information that they never see before.
- SEO campaign is prohibitively expensive: In reality, there are many SEO methods that we can use. Some of them are expensive, but many are completely free. After we have fully applied all free SEO techniques, we could consider joining PPC advertising, such as Adwords. We could design our campaign based on our budget, no matter how limited it is.
- Natural SEO is less effective than PPC advertising: It is true that PPC advertising will generate quick traffic, but we could see that highly popular website no longer need PPC advertising to generate huge amount of targeted traffic. Webmasters should rely on natural SEO for permanent, long-term traffic. PPC advertising is ideal for new websites to introduce people about their excellence and uniqueness.
- In-house SEO employee is cheaper: In reality, employees need to be paid each week or month. Most SEO consultants are paid for each item of the project or for the whole project itself. No matter how long it takes to achieve a SEO goal, we will need to pay internal SEO employees regularly. When we hire a SEO firm, we will pay a one-time charge and it is likely that we will have an entirely experienced team. In the end, we should be able to save a great deal of money by paying a flat rate. It is also possible that we complete a task faster. In addition, a SEO firm is consisted of more than just a SEO specialist, but also content creator, website re-designer, link generation specialists and others. It is highly unlikely that the SEO employee has all that skills.
- My site will rank well if I have unique content with proper keyword density: It isn’t true. Although our content is unique, it will need to compete with other unique content that our competitors have released recently. We may need to perform on-site and off-site SEO efforts.
