SEO Myths That You Really Need To Dump in 2013 – Part 2
Continued from SEO Myths – Part 1
Despite the explosion of social media over the last few years and despite what many SEO naysayers will tell you, search engine optimisation continues to play a large part in online marketing strategies of businesses and, if carried out correctly,SEO is still a powerful tool.
Having said that, there are a lot of beliefs and stories surrounding SEO which may or may not be true. So without further ado, here are another 6 myths that you may just want to leave back in 2012.
You have to get all your keywords within the first page… and the more the better!
One of Google’s main aims since the “Panda” updates of 2011 is to make it an all-round better experience for the reader. This includes clear, concise and relevant content. To this end, content should be written with the reader in mind in the first instance and not simply ‘stuffed’ with keywords. Instead, for good SEO results, it’s always better to try to lay out your site with carefully placed keywords throughout, so when Google spiders your site, it not only increases in relevance to the search engines, but also provides value to the end user.
The most important on-page SEO element is the H1 tag
It used to be that when the search engines weren’t quite as smart as they are now, H1 tags were probably the most important aspect on the page. Unfortunately people cottoned on to this and as a result H1 tags were spammed to death.
Nowadays, algorithms have become much more complex and reader relevancy is now key. Businesses need to present their most important concepts up front. This is often done through a clear, concise, informative headline. As a result heavily optimising the H1 tag no longer guarantees that you’ll rank for that keyword.
Keywords needs to match exactly
Whilst it’s true that keywords continue to play an important part in SEO, Keywords no longer need to be repeated verbatim throughout the body of the text. This is especially true if you have a difficult key phrase to slot in. Instead try to use keywords in the way that makes most sense.
If you think about it, Google’s plan is to give the end user the best search experience possible. Nothing is more off-putting to a reader than trying to read an article, blog post or piece of web content when they then have to try and navigate their way around difficult word placement, or forcibly repeated keywords. In essence it really sucks! Insteadkeep keywords natural.
Other domains and micro-sites that I own linking back to my site will help my optimisation.
There’s no getting away from it, search engines are clever and the bottom line is that they know exactly who is linking back to your site. In essence it’s like voting for yourself a hundred times in an election campaign, it’ll still only count as one vote and the same goes for back linking.
Links simply don’t matter anymore!
Over the past year or so, the search engines have changed the way links are now viewed. Now it’s no longer about quantity (see the above point). Instead it’s about relevance (see, there’s that theme again!). Nowadays, links that come from highly respected and relevant sites will give your site much more credence in the eyes of the search engines and is good SEO practice.
Link building is better than content creation
As already mentioned, quality inbound links will give your website authority but insightful, well written content is still the main factor in attracting visitors to your sight. Link building is no longer simply a numbers game and instead writing great blog posts, web content and guest posts is going to generate more relevant inbound links back to your site over time.
In essence if you can make sure that you’re publishing content that’s not only relevant to your target audience, but is personalised, addresses how users see the site and how quickly they can find what they’re looking for, then this is half the SEO battle right here! Instead, don’t look at it as search engine optimisation, look upon it as search ‘experience’ optimisation and you’ll be on the right track.
