subject: Common Myths About Seo That All Online Marketers Must Know About [print this page] You can find many myths about search engines circulating the Internet due to a widespread misunderstanding of how the search engines work. What happens is that people have mistaken ideas and then repeat them to others, causing these myths to spread quickly. Let's take a look at some of the most harmful of these myths so the next time you hear them you'll know better.
Search engine optimization is one of the oldest and most reliable traffic generation methods. Due to your site properly targeting its audience, visitors will come to your website and take action. One of the best parts of all of this is that driving this traffic to your site doesn't cost a thing. However, a lot of people haven't yet caught up when it comes to obtaining good rankings in the search engines. So many fallacies are now spread as truth when it comes to SEO because it has grown so much that it can be difficult to actually understand how search engines operate. A good knowledge of SEO and its components, as well as how these components work together, are vital if you want to use the search engines in your favor. In this article we will be busting a few such myths that you should know before you get into it.
Optimizing long tail keywords is essential if you want to rank highly for them. You can see this myth repeated constantly all over the Internet This is false because long tail keywords don't have much competition due to the fact that there aren't many searches for them, so there is no need to worry about optimizing them. You can rank for long tail keywords without much effort. The way to rank for these keywords is simply to use them in some of your content, which cannot be called optimization. It's as easy as that. You can get some easy traffic from these keywords, as they require no special optimization effort.
The idea that you need to register your URL with the search engines is one of these myths that is quite common. Search engines are evolving more and more as the Internet continues to grow at an astounding rate. The result is that if you want your site's address to show up in the search engines you no longer need to submit it manually. Search engine spiders crawl sites constantly so the speediest way to have your site indexed is to have a link back to your site from a few Web 2.0 properties or popular forums that are constantly visited by spiders. Another reason why you shouldn't directly submit your URL to the search engines is because it might actually make the whole process even longer. Thus, registering your web address on authority sites is your best option to make sure your site gets indexed quickly. The notion that each of your pages should be devoted to optimizing only one keyword is another SEO myth that needs to be addressed.
Many website owners are convinced that their pages should not target more than one keyword or phrase, but this is another erroneous belief. The basic premise behind this belief is that your page will rank better if it's very focused. The main problem with this whole technique is that when you try to write a page that targets a single phrase, it will not sound natural. 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? The truth is, you are better off using as many keyword phrases as you can on an optimized page. This is the way to optimize your site for more traffic. You can find out for yourself by looking at your web analytics that you are getting traffic from several, possibly many different keywords. If you want to rank well in the search engines, optimize several different keyword phrases.
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.
The need to have a Google Sitemap is another SEO myth that many people follow blindly. The Sitemap is simply one of the many tools Google offers that you can use. You will not have need of a Google Sitemap at all, if you have built your site properly and made it friendly to the search engines. Your site won't be harmed by having a Sitemap but it definitely won't do more than maybe getting your site indexed a little faster. Having it won't get you better rankings or influence other SEO factors.
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.
The fact that your site will be banned if you buy links to your site from other relevant websites is another myth. Despite the fact that Google doesn't like anyone buying links or trying to influence the rank of their site in any way, they often don't know the links are paid for because otherwise they wouldn't count. They would just discount these links if they were to find out that you paid for them. It simply wouldn't be logical for them to give a site the ban hammer simply because it was advertising its links on other sites. You need to remember that the same link building regulations apply when you purchase external links. Therefore whether you are buying links or building them naturally, make sure they always come from relevant sites. Overall, the best way to stay away from such myths is to stay well informed. It's worthwhile to take note of where you are hearing statements and beliefs that are not true so you can be more careful in the future. 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. You may want to find some trusted sources of information on this subject for when you find yourself getting confused about something. You don't have to be perfect, as everyone makes mistakes, but you can become skilled enough to get highly ranked for your sites.
