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9 Common SEO Myths Demystified
By - Collyn Floyd
When it comes to Search
Engine Optimization (SEO), there's plenty of bad advice out there on the best
way to increase your online visibility. In fact, you may think all you have to
do is employ a few tricks and ploys, invest a few bucks (literally a few bucks -
like $5.00), and you'll be on your way to SEO success.
But just like any aspect
of your business, SEO doesn't come easy or for free. We've taken a few
moments to help debunk some of the most ubiquitous SEO myths. Our advice
is to stay away from these tactics; not only are they ineffective, but they can
actually result in your site being penalized by the search engines.
Myth 1: Stuff the
Meta Keyword and Alt Tags with keywords Thanks to years of overuse and abuse, the Meta Keyword
tag now plays a tiny role in the search engine algorithms. So, before
stuffing a bunch of keywords in the Meta Keyword tag and considering your page
optimized, remember that this tag is only used to determine a page's relevance,
not its rankings.
Alt tags are used to
describe an image, and are particularly helpful for those with slow-loading or
non-visual browsers, as well as for the vision-impaired. Somewhere along
the line, someone thought it would be a good idea to stuff Alt tags with lots of
keywords, and the idea caught on. Of course, it didn't take the search
engines long to figure this out. But even if they hadn't, do you really
want to do the online equivalent of parking in a handicapped space?
Myth 2: Fill your
website with loads of Tiny Text and get big results Tiny text is text so
small that it is virtually unreadable to the human eye. The idea is that you can
include lots of keywords on your Web page, making your page more appealing to
the search engines and resulting in higher rankings. There's just one
problem with this tactic - search engines want your pages to be valuable to the
user, not to them.
Myth 2B: Fill your
website with loads of Invisible Text and Links A cousin to tiny text,
Invisible Text is achieved by placing a bunch of keywords on the page in the
same color as the background thereby making it, well, invisible.
Similarly, Invisible Links are used to artificially boost the amount of links
coming into a site. Of course, the search engines can detect these things
a mile away.
Myth 3: Cloaking is
a good idea If BMW Germany's website can get busted for this, so can yours. A
"cloaked" page is a page that shows one thing to the user and another
to the search engines. Again, because the search engines want valuable
content provided to the user, they may devalue or even drop your site altogether
if they spot this technique.
Myth 4: You can get
guaranteed rankings Nothing in life is guaranteed, and certainly not your search engine
rankings. Companies that guarantee rankings or placement in the search
engines should be avoided at all costs. Why? Because only the search
engines control rankings, and they can (and do!) change their algorithms without
notice.
Myth 5: Automated
SEO tools are an effective, cheap solution Let's see if we've got this right: there's an SEO tool
out there that will do all this work for you, help you make you a ton of money,
and cost you just a few bucks a month. Back on planet Earth, the reality
is that just like any other aspect of your business, it takes time and talent to
effectively optimize a site.
Myth 6: Submitting
your site to 18,000 directories for $2.99 is a good idea Some of these services
actually do submit your site to a bunch of directories...directories no one
visits and that carry virtually no weight in the search engines. Even at
$2.99, you're being overcharged. Seriously, do you think you can get
effective SEO results spending less than a value meal at McDonald's?
Myth 7: Hits are a
good indicator of site traffic Hits are terribly misunderstood. Here's why: a
hit isn't an actual site visitor; it's merely a file request. So, if your
homepage has 25 files on it (each unique image, for example, is a file) then
your web stats will reflect 25 hits, all from just one visitor. Instead of
hits, track the number of unique visitors to your site.
Myth 8: Don't hire
SEO experts; just let your "web guy" do it Would you let your
accountant market your website? No? Well, don't let your "web
guy" do it, either. Search Engine Optimization should be an extension
of your overall marketing plan, and someone with marketing expertise should be
the one to optimize it.
Myth 9: You can kick
back once your site is optimized Due to the constantly changing nature of the Web, even
the most optimized sites can't rest on their laurels. A few years ago,
just when some people thought they had optimized their site to the hilt, along
came Mobile Search. Then, there was the Social Media tidal wave of YouTube,
MySpace, blogging, etc.
Want to achieve long-term
SEO success? The kind of success that actually benefits your business's
bottom line? Then take this advice: skip all the shortcuts and subterfuge.
Instead, invest in the evaluation, research, and planning of your website; these
are things that will bring you a true SEO advantage.
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About The Author:
Collyn Floyd http://www.tkg.com/collyn-floyd is a marketing and public relations specialist with The Karcher Group, a
web development and search engine marketing firm based in North Canton, OH. She
is passionate about helping The Karcher Group's clients achieve greater online
traffic, leads and sales through search engine optimization and marketing.
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