Explaining SEO Myths
While SEO is a good way to get traffic going into particular sites, many are still not that keen in using it. In fact, ordinary web surfers are not too familiar with the term. This is why there is as many myths about Search Engine Optimization as there is techniques in doing it.
These myths are quite diverse in their variety. Some of them concern the whole SEO process itself while others focus only on parts of it. And there are also those myths that do contain a few bits of truth in them. Thus, being familiar with these myths is a must for SEO professionals in order to make their work much easier. Here are some of the most common myths that you might have encountered.
Probably the most prevalent myth is that optimization works only for Google or that you have to have a Google sitemap for it to work. This stems out from the fact that many SEO strategies are often planned with Google in mind. However, this is not due to Google being the only one where SEO works. Rather, it stems from Google being the most popular search used by web searchers, which are the ultimate target of SEO. In fact, SEO will work for any search engine. But for the purpose of getting better rankings, it would be best if you use the more popular ones.
Another common myth is that your site will likely be banned if you do not follow Google’s (or any other search engine’s) guidelines. Here we need to make a distinction between rules and guidelines, which people often mistakenly interchange. Guidelines, by their name, are instructions intended to help users in doing much better work, and are not strictly implemented. Rules, on the other hand, are the law that they must abide in order to stay in. For all purposes, you can choose to either follow the guidelines or not, but breaking the search engine’s rule on illegal SEO methods is an entirely different matter altogether.
Many people (optimizer and non-optimizer alike) also often think that once an SEO strategy is in place, it will work by itself to give you the rankings. This one is quite true up to an extent. Since most search engines rely on automated tools to conduct the rankings, you can also use programs to assist you in dealing with ranking tools. However, it is still up to you to maintain the level of traffic that goes into the site and to put in new content to increase your rankings.
A common misconception coming from optimizers themselves is that SEO is solely based on using the right keywords. Though keywords are indeed a big part of SEO, it is far from being all of it. In fact, there are also a myriad of techniques that doesn’t rely on keywords for optimization. Relying too much on keywords can also be very detrimental to a SEO campaign, as other possibly more productive strategies are relegated to small roles.
There will be plenty of other myths that you will likely encounter while doing SEO work. However, once you get to know them, you will be able to go on the job more effectively.