SEO AND SEO MYTHS EXPLAINED
Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a process where
content is optimized or enhanced to be discovered by a search engine's organic
search results. It helps your website to get organic, or un-paid, traffic from
the search engine results page. The basic function of SEO is to recreate or
change the design of your website or content to make your site more attractive
to a search engine.
What every website wants is to be displayed on the top
when a user searches about it, SEO makes the site more attractive. Search
engines aim to provide the best service for their users, which means delivering
results on the search engine pages that are not only of augmented quality but
also relevant to what the searcher is looking for. To achieve this, search
engines will scan or go through different websites to better understand what
the site is about. This helps them deliver more relevant results to those who
are searching for certain issues or keywords.
Search engines scan the site to determine how facile it
is to navigate and read, user-friendly websites are ranked higher on the search
engine results page. All the search engines work on the same goal, to display
the best and most relevant results to the users. If one wants more organic
traffic to your web pages, then we need to understand and cater to Google's
algorithm, however, If you want more video views, then it's all about YouTube's
method. Search engine optimization is the process that organizations practice
to help make sure that their site ranks high in the search engines for relevant
and similar keywords and phrases. For instance, if we say that you have an
article about how to save more. In order to get your content displayed in front
of the right people, you need to try to optimize your this blog post so that it
will be shown as a top result for anyone who searches for the phrase 'saving
more.'
SEO MYTHS DEBUNKED
In specifically search engine optimization (SEO), there
are some pieces of information that, in their retelling, lose track of the
context. Hence, this information is called what we name in several circles
"Zombie Lies" or in this scenario "Zombie Myths." Zombie
SEO myths are myths that, despite being debunked over and over again, do not
seem to die. They continue to be believed as true and leave site owners
confused as to what is true and what is not. Some of these zombie myths that
never seem to die – no matter how hard experts try to kill them, mostly, we're
going to focus on Google because it is where most sites get their traffic and
around which most of the myths revolve. Let's look onto some of the myths that
need to be shattered:
CONTENT IS ALL THAT YOU NEED!
You will find many articles trying to prove that the
content is the KING! Statement. While this is not what we say is completely
untrue, content is less king and more of a significant business partner to
links, design, and usability. Usually, though, content and links are the
like the conjoined twins of the SEO world, they are very similar and go side by
side. You need to have both. One will simply not work without the other,
at least not well, and not for a long period of time. Content is special, but
not the king. You can always have one without the other, but it isn't as
effective. You definitely need to add technical to this duo, and you have the
triad that is the basis of all good core SEO.
SPEED IS NOT THAT IMPORTANT!
Page speed is only a tie-breaker when all the other
factors are equal, as stated by Google. This is one of those cases where one
can say that this is not borne out in real-world testing. So while it is true
that it acts as a tie-breaker when all things are equal nut not only this, it
can also dramatically improve the rankings when your site is facing a severe
page speed issue. It is also foremost to know what Google is measuring when
they are evaluating the page speed. While they are looking at overall speed the
matter they are most "critical" of is how long the DOM (Direct Object
Model) takes to load; the DOM items are the visible items on the page except
for the ads if you have stacked your load right.
KEYWORD DENSITY
There used to be a time when keyword density mattered.
While one can still put any word on the page several numbers of times, there is
no prescribed range of what makes a page rank. In fact, one can find results
now where the keyword does not exist in the visible portion of the page; it
might be in the links or through the image tagging or somewhere else that is
not part of the content that was searched, it can be a similar but not the
exact match. It is way beneficial to make relevant content that you can link to
internally, and others can link to externally rather than wasting time on
optimizing keywords, your title tag will still be highly relevant. Also,
spending some time adding your query set there might give you a boost.
FOLLOWING SOMETHING JUST BECAUSE THE BIG BRANDS DO!
This is very much similar to doing something stupid
just because someone else did it. There goes a long history of sites copying
bad website decisions from each other only because they thought the other site
knew something they didn't. What a particular site does may work for them and
may not, it might be the best thing for them, but it might have slight chances
of being effective for your site too. You are a different company altogether,
and your users have different queries and intent. DO NOT copy big brands, try
to discover something that works for you and stick to that.
SEO MYTHS AND SOME INFORMATIONAL FACTS
It is pretty easy to get caught in the tangled web of
SEO; it might be simple for some but extremely confusing for others. SEO, in
fact, is ever-evolving and can give you greater leverage when working on
your website. Let's try to figure out some common statements made about SEO and
if they are a myth or a fact.
The number of characters in the title must be limited
This is a fact since it has long been said that you
should limit your title length to 65 characters or fewer so that it doesn't get
cut off in search results, Google has now modified that to allow any titles
up to 600 pixels in width. If you find that the words in your title are
skinny letters, you can get a few more characters in, and similarly, if the
letters are wider, you'll get a few less.
Readable Url's are better
It is indeed a fact that structured and readable URL'S
make it easier for the users to understand and remember your landing pages. Not
only this, but search engines also prefer readable URLs because they
describe what's on those specific pages quicker.
A mobile site is an integral part of the growth of your website
It is true that mobile searches have outranked desktop
searches. Google boosts the ranking of mobile-friendly pages on search results,
and this can be a game-changer for how your website functions.
HOW CAN SEO MYTHS COST YOU?
There are many "SEO experts" who might be
well-intentioned but misinformed, SEO involves real effort and commitment,
which often pays additional rewards beyond the increase in traffic. It is very
important to constantly update your information and beliefs about SEO before
spreading some myths around unknowingly. Maintaining your SEO efforts is
essential because of link degradation, publishing new pages, evolving search
engine algorithms, outdated content, and more are important for the growth of
your website. When recently we saw many people believing that link building is
bad when Google's John Mueller stated link building is
something he'd "try to avoid," many misinterpreted this to mean that
link building is bad, against the rules, and Google will penalize you for it.
In fact, nothing changes the fact that search engines use link authority and
anchor text signals steadily in their search ranking algorithms.
To be fair, this kind of non-relevant, scaled approach
to links should be avoided at all costs, and search engines have taken great
efforts to algorithmically detect and punish this behaviour, this being said,
one needs to know the difference between an SEO myth and fact.
Many of the myths try to make people believe things
like SEO is a cam and is not approved by Google; however, Google seems to
encourage search engine optimization; it almost certainly hates manipulative
SEO. In fact, several myths come down to some folks' inability to distinguish
between hard-working SEO and search engine spam.