The concept of SEO is a bit like playing broken down telephone. Information gets twisted from mishearing, misquoting, or just plain not understanding. It may seem like a fair competition, and to some degree it is, but the people that are actively trying to improve their rankings will benefit the most from their efforts. Here are a few SEO myths that we can safely leave behind in the last decade:
1. SEO is Once-off
SEO is always evolving and changing. The practices that were once a big deal are not always going to be. Setting up your shop and thinking you’re done is going to see your rankings and numbers decline over time. Monitoring the status of your links to ensure they stay reputable, and checking on your page performance, are just a couple things that need continual maintenance.
2. User Signals Don’t Matter
User experience may not impact your rankings directly, but it would be foolish not to see the bigger picture. How a user reacts to your website gives search engines vital information that could affect your rankings. That information is not available to see, so metrics like impressions, CTRs and bounce rate will indicate how satisfied users are with your website.
PS: Page loading speed matters – nobody likes to wait for pages to load, so don’t lose out.
3. SEO is Magic
SEO can come across as rocket science one day and the next seem like smoke and mirrors. This stems from the data overload that SEO involves. The trick is to break the data into bite-sized chunks that can be understood on their own or in association with other elements. If algorithms and metrics aren’t your things, prepare to pay for a specialist’s experience – not just their time.
