The ever-changing landscape of the digital world means things can become quickly outdated. Any good digital marketing agency knows that strategies need to be revisited each time new information comes in.
Some strategies and practices can become obsolete with the fast-paced world of search engine optimization (SEO). And following these myths could harm your chances of ranking on Google. Here are six SEO myths you should definitely no longer follow.
Myth 1: You Need to Submit Your Website to Google
Perhaps, back in the day, this statement used to be true. But in 2018, Google actually decided to discontinue its public submission feature for websites. In a statement, Google instead welcomes users to submit using the Google Search Console tool and through sitemaps. So, if you encounter services that ask you to pay for search engine submissions, know that these are totally unnecessary and waste money.
Myth 2: Meta Keyword Tags Help You Rank
Gone are the days when websites would use long lists of meta keyword tags to help websites rank higher on Google. But with meta keyword tags being abused by websites, Google decided to remove them as a factor for ranking. It’s much better to use only a few relevant meta keyword tags since, in this case, quality is better than quantity.
Myth 3: Keyword Stuffing
A lot of people think that the more keywords you use in your content, the better. But, this is not the case. Just like in the second myth, Google doesn’t like it when you try to stuff keywords. The algorithm will see right through this supposed hack. Again, it’s much better to use only a few relevant keywords in your content than to awkwardly insert all the keywords you could find.
Myth 4: Duplicate Content Is Good
Not only is it uncool to have unoriginal content, but it’ll also negatively affect your chances of ranking. Stealing or duplicating content might have been a common SEO strategy back in the early 2000s, but this strategy will no longer work today. In fact, back in 2011, Google had an update called the Panda algorithm update that was developed to reduce low-quality content. This update weeded out sites that had duplicate content. Now, Google is more likely to reward sites that consistently produce unique and quality content.
Myth 5: Longer Titles Are Better
Overly optimizing titles is a common rookie mistake in SEO. Titles should typically be 50-70 characters long. If you have titles longer than this, Google might not be able to display your full title. This runs the risk of key components in the title being cut from the user’s view. However, you should note that Google measures titles in pixel width instead of the number of characters. So, if you use many wide letters like ‘W,’ then Google might still cut your title even if your character length is reasonable.
Myth 6: More Links Means Higher Conversion
A typical SEO mistake is thinking that the quantity of backlinks helps with conversion. Websites would get tons of backlinks from low-quality sites thinking it’ll boost the conversion rate. But in reality, people aren’t going to click on links that have nothing to do with what they’re searching. Google prefers the quality of the links over the quantity.
Conclusion
In the constantly evolving SEO world, it is vital to stay on top of the latest practices and strategies. You don’t want to invest your time in an outdated SEO strategy that would do you more harm than good. Know which SEO practices are still relevant and discard those that aren’t.
If you’re looking to generate more traffic for your website, you can count on Phantom Eye Design to deliver results. We are a digital marketing agency and web design agency in Athens, GA that offers website design, SEO, digital marketing, and graphic design services. Contact us now to get started!
