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Search engine optimisation, like many marketing scheme's has many questions, theories and results based on opinions from thousands of people ranging from all sorts of profession in the online marketing world.
With so many opinions it can sometimes be daunting to get an answer to a question. Some have one answer whilst others have a different answer, sometimes it can be difficult to follow the right path.
In search engine optimisation there are a lot of theories, studies, opinions and other data that are used to sell and maintain search engine optimisation. There are, at the same time, a lot of myths that can be created in order to sell search engine optimisation, especially if the receiving company has little or no knowledge of the subject.
When we say myth, we mean something that is claimed, yet proven otherwise, so in some cases the myth is created because of inaccurate data or poor research. Here we cover some of the biggest myths in SEO that still exist today.
Myth 1: Meta Data and its importance
Meta data has been heavily abused by webmasters and so called SEO experts who claim meta data is an important part of search engine optimisation. This couldn't be further from the truth, meta data is a depreciated tag because of its past abuse and the way that search engine algorithms have advanced. Meta data is now ideal for best practice only. The description tag carries importance only for user click through rates from search engines. Search engines like Google use other factors to evaluate a page's quality and relevance to a keyword or keyword group.
Myth 2: Search Engine Submissions
This myth is still prominent in the SEO industry and is used by rogue SEO agencies to generate additional income. The truth is, search engine submissions are a complete waste of time. Despite the fact that only 3 search engines really make up the market share of searches online, the fact that your website could be submitted to 65,000 search engines really makes no difference at all. A website is automatically indexed by a search engine once a reference to it is found, or on the presence of joining Google's webmaster tools and specifying a sitemap. Search engine submissions are not beneficial to your website in any way and should be avoided as it is an unnecessary expense.
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Myth 3: Keyword Density Levels
This is sadly one of the most commonly occurring myths. The myth is based around keyword density levels which is usually represented using a percentage score. The truth is, Google can evaluate the quality of content based on the references to relevant subject matter within the content. Based on a search index of over 100,000,000 pages, Google is able to look for consistencies within content to evaluate the quality of the content. Of course including your keyword in your content is ideal, but the volume in which this is done has no direct link. If a keyword is found to occur to commonly, this would more then likely spoil the readability of the content which would automatically reduce its relevance and would pose as no benefit to the website. Good content is well written content that is authoritive on a subject.
Myth 4: Reciprocal Linking is Dead
Surprisingly this would seem like something that would be fazed out by search engines but it still can play a beneficial role in an SEO campaign. Reciprocal links were devalued by Google in mid 2008, however this did not apply to links between websites that shared links of relevance. Google would not penalise a website just because of its reciprocating links. Instead, Google will evaluate the relationship between the websites involved in the reciprocal link. Reciprocal links should be built with the end user in mind, at the same time this would add as a positive movement for the websites backlink profile.
Myth 5: Building thousands of backlinks
We often find clients who have purchased the work of link building by buying in quantity. This is wrong, quantity is not an important factor yet it is portrayed in this way. Backlinks are based on quality, volume simply contributes towards additional page rank and not relevance. Backlinks in bulk are often the product of a quick win all promises SEO agency, but in the real scope of things, it's the quality and relationship of the backlinks that matters.
For more information on search engine optimization and for more articles visit our SEO Knowledge Base.
Busting SEO Myths
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