subject: Typical Misconceptions Regarding Seo To Look Out For [print this page] Many people have mistaken ideas about search engines, and there are several reasons for this. The fact is, it's very difficult to keep up with the search engines because they frequently change the rules. Search engines fight spam on a daily basis, which is why they need to keep updating their algorithm frequently. This has led to many people having incorrect ideas about search engine policies on how to increase your rank, how to get indexed quickly and the like. You need access to the real story and know how to recognize myths if you want to profit from SEO. We will now expose some of these commonly repeated myths.
The following is a list of SEO myths to keep in mind.
Getting high rankings in the search engines depends on many different factors but it definitely doesn't depend on your use of header tags on your site, which is a myth. While some still believe that keywords in the H tag can increase their rank, this is not true.
One widespread fallacy is that you should submit your URL to the search engines. Now, with the Internet growing with the speed of light, search engines are getting more and more advanced. Therefore, you are no longer required to register your URL manually to get it listed in the search engines. The search engine spiders are crawling websites all the time and therefore the fastest way to get indexed is to have your URL listed on a few Web 2.0 sites or some popular forums that regularly get crawled. One other reason you shouldn't be registering your websites address with the search engines manually is because then the process of getting indexed and ranking can end up taking a lot longer. So the best option is to get your website listed with a few popular sites and you'll see it getting indexed in no time. The notion that each of your pages should be devoted to optimizing only one keyword is another SEO myth that needs to be addressed. There are still many SEO experts and as well as small businesses who believe that each of the pages on your site should be optimized for one single phrase, which is far from the truth.
Website owners who use this technique believe that by making their pages highly focused, they will be ranked more highly by the search engines. One reason this isn't a good idea is that it will ruin the quality of your content, causing you to write articles that keep repeating a single keyword phrase. The second problem with this is that you are not making the best use of your space by not using additional key phrases. What is the point of targeting a single keyword when the same page could be optimizing several keyword phrases? You will get better results if you target as many keyword phrases as you can on a page. If your goal is to get targeted visitors, this is the way to do it. You can find out for yourself by looking at your web analytics that you are getting traffic from several, possibly many different keywords. There's nothing wrong with optimizing for several phrases per page and it will only help you with the search engines.
Search engine optimization is not a way to trick or fool the search engines to get you ranked but still many new marketers believe it to be that. You may be able to mislead the search engines, but then you are also misleading the people you are targeting for your website. The problem with getting traffic that has found your site after being tricked is that it won't convert very well. If you want to use true SEO, you have to focus on putting relevant content on your site and building quality backlinks, which the search engines will reward you for.
You should also know that failing to conform to Google's guidelines when you are optimizing your site will not lead to you being banned. This is owed to the fact that Google's rules and regulations are simply a matter of good judgment. It's not compulsory for you to study them if you are certain you are in the right. Just make sure you're not doing anything the search engines would think is direct spamming/cheating. Reading through these guidelines at least once is a good idea because they are always being updated and it will help you learn more.
You may also hear about another myth that states that you don't have to worry about SEO if you are in a market or industry that reaches people in some way other than search engines. It doesn't make sense to think this way when you consider how many millions of people use the search engines every single day. Search engines are set up to access sites from every niche, and you can prove this by searching for any keywords on any topic you want. No matter what niche you're in, you have to consider the many millions of people who search on Google and other search engines every day as potential visitors and customers.
Another myth is the fact that your site needs to be updated all the time, even though some think it has an effect on your SERP rankings. While adding new content and updating your website regularly will not affect your search engine rankings, at the same time it will lead to spiders crawling your site more often. This means that you shouldn't make forced updates if your site doesn't need it simply to keep the search engines happy. The impact it has will be minimal. You will find that a lot of the popular niches have high ranking sites that haven't been updated in a long while. If you take the time to investigate various claims, you won't easily become a victim to myths. As we all know myths do more harm than good, so it's important to analyze how you're actually being misinformed and what you should do about it. The better informed you are, the more successful you'll be.
If you want to succeed with search engine optimization, you have to be ready to work at it for a while. There are some good forums, newsletters and membership sites that can help you if you find yourself stuck on some point regarding SEO. If you keep studying and applying your knowledge, you will be able to achieve better ranks for your sites, even if you make a few mistakes along the way.
