Don’t fall for these age-old SEO myths
Search engine optimisation is a tricky field for even many seasoned online digital marketing experts to keep on top of completely. It’s therefore no surprise that many unhelpful myths have arisen as to what will — and won’t — send a website rocketing up the search engine results pages.
Here are some of the unhelpful SEO myths that are still floating around in 2018, and why they can be safely dispelled.
A page can only rank for one keyword
It’s true that a webpage should really be focused on one keyword phrase above all others if it is deliver the best search engine performance — in much the same way as an essay or dissertation is better when it has a single overall theme.
However, it’s not the case that a given page can only rank for one keyword. That’s why you should carefully consider not just your primary keyword phrase for that page, but also the secondary keyword phrases that are related to the page’s general subject.
More is… more
Another persistent belief among many website owners is that the more content they put on their site, the more they will be rewarded by the search engines.
But of course, this isn’t necessarily true, either. As search engines become ever-more sophisticated, they have become better at ranking genuinely high-quality, compelling and relevant content higher.
So, consider what kind of content will actually resonate with your brand’s target market, instead of allowing a load of substandard content to remain on your site, simply because there’s a lot of it.
You should only link from keyword phrases
Are you including a link back to your homepage whenever you mention an obvious keyword — let’s say, ‘estate agent in Leeds’ — even if the keyword phrase is at the top of the page and there’s little obvious reason why the reader would want to click it anyway?
After all, they’ve only just landed on your page. A strict policy of only using keyword phrases as anchor text to other parts of your site can therefore make your site look dull and even spammy.
Instead, always put yourself in the reader’s position when you are considering where links are placed in your content. Is the user actually likely to appreciate that link to that content, placed there?
SEO can only be done one way
Another revelation for you here — the online digital marketing experts at agencies like PENNInk Productions may be darned good, but they aren’t psychic. They don’t know exactly what all search engines are looking for, at any one time. SEO is an art as much as it is a science.
We therefore simply can’t say there’s only ‘one way’ to do SEO effectively. Many schools of thought exist in SEO, so you can never be completely sure what will work unless you try it out for yourself and scrutinise the results.
Don’t get caught in a one-track mind when it comes to what will or won’t bolster your site’s fortunes in the search engine rankings. Instead, get in touch with PENNInk Productions today for a discussion of what our online digital marketing experts can do for your brand’s effectiveness on the web.
Originally published at PENNInk Productions.
