Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to on-page and off-page techniques that are designed to encourage higher search rankings for one or more keywords. The higher your website ranks in the search engines, the more traffic it will receive. Unfortunately, though, there’s a lot of misinformation on the topic of SEO. In an effort to create greater transparency, we’re going to debunk some of the most common SEO myths.
#1) Duplicate Content Will Hurt Your Rankings
Some webmasters assume that publishing the same content on multiple pages will hurt their site’s rankings. While it’s best to avoid duplicate content when possible, it isn’t going to trigger a rankings penalty. You have to remember that roughly 40% of the entire Internet is duplicate content, so Google and other major search engines know how to handle it.
#2) More Backlinks Equals Higher Search Rankings
Another common myth is that creating more backlinks will boost your site’s search rankings. Granted, there are times when it will help, but it could also hurt your site’s rankings. In recent years, search engines have shifted their focus to backlink quality over quantity. In other words, a few high-quality, relevant backlinks will prove more beneficial for SEO than thousands of generic, irrelevant backlinks.
#3) You Can Pay For a Top Ranking
Wouldn’t it be great if you could pay to get your site ranked in the top position for its target keyword? Well, unfortunately, this isn’t possible. While many companies offer so-called “rankings services,” there’s no way to guarantee a top search ranking. Google uses hundreds of ranking signals to determine where a website rank — and it changes its ranking algorithm hundreds of times a year. Avoid falling for any gimmicks by companies offering to sell you a top search ranking.
#4) You Can Achieve a Top Search Ranking in Just Weeks
You may get lucky and achieve a top search ranking for your respective target keyword in just weeks (or less), but SEO is usually a long game that takes months or even years. If you aren’t willing to wait this long, you may want to consider pay-per-click (PPC) advertising instead — or at least add PPC with your SEO efforts.
#5) SEO Can Be Automated
There are certain digital marketing tasks that can be automated, but SEO isn’t one of them. In order to optimize your site for higher search rankings, you’ll need to manually perform on-site and off-site work. Attempting to automate these tasks will only hurt your SEO efforts.
