SEO is big. There are many different avenues to tackle, from onsite and offsite SEO, content marketing, fundamental and advanced techniques, backlinking, paid advertising, and even parts of social media! Therefore, there’s no surprise that many misconceptions exist that may have you a little confused.
With plenty of free webinars and training courses online, as well as a million and one opinions on personal blogs or LinkedIn, it can be hard to know what’s right and what’s wrong.
To help you out, we’ve busted some of the most common SEO misconceptions so you can kick-start your SEO campaign on the right foot.
SEO is a one-time-only task
Sure there are many one-off tasks that need to be done to ensure the fundamentals are completed on your website but it doesn’t stop there. If you’ve recently built a new website, redirecting your old one to ensure equity is passed over is key, and getting all your meta information, image optimisations, and content optimisations completed as soon as possible are essential tasks.
However, that’s not the end of it. Your competitors will constantly be updating their websites to meet the latest Google requirements, as well as targeting new keywords, launching new products or services, and adding content to their website. These are just some of the reasons why you’ll need to stay on top of your SEO.
If you work in an industry that’s extremely dependant on seasonal trends, constantly updating your keyword targeting will ensure your website appears for the best search terms depending on the time of year. On the other hand, event tracking and paying close attention to how your users interact with your website will allow you to make ongoing amends to site structure and navigation, create content plans, and make other changes that will increase user retention and eventually result in solid leads.
Number one spots on Google can be guaranteed
You’ve probably been told by one agency or another that they’ll get you to number one on Google within a few weeks or months. If you haven’t, make sure you run a mile when you do! There’s absolutely no way to guarantee positions on Google (or else everyone would do it and there’s only so many number one spots).
Google’s algorithm is constantly changing and it’s up to your SEO specialist to keep a close eye on those changes and optimise your website when they notice something new come to light. By playing by the rules, you’re likely to see general increases over time as your visibility becomes increasingly higher resulting in much better quality traffic than a black-hat “quick-fix”.
SEO is all about content marketing
Content marketing is very important when it comes to SEO, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. Keeping your website fresh and up-to-date with new articles and blog content allows you to target keywords more frequently while also providing your audience with good quality information. Content marketing also allows you to expand your website and at the end of the day, a bigger website has more chances to rank than a smaller one.
However, offsite SEO techniques are vital for increasing the overall visibility of your website and they work simultaneously with your onsite SEO efforts. Valuable blog content can aid link building by giving you quality articles that other businesses may link to from their own website. You can also look at writing news articles or press releases that include links back to your site for publication on larger commercial, news-based or magazine-style websites.
Additionally, ensuring your website is listed on popular directories and your Google My Business is up to date can help massively with local SEO, an ever-growing part of Google’s algorithm to help users find businesses close to them.
PPC replaces good SEO practices
It can be tempting to throw money at paid advertising on Google to ensure that number one spot, but did you know that following Google’s SEO best practices can help reduce your PPC costs? Google advertising works by giving your website a quality score and combining this with an ad score and your budget. The result determines how much you must pay for each click and where Google decides to place your advert. By ensuring your website is optimised and user-friendly, you may end up paying less for the top spot compared to those appearing second or third!
Look at how visitors are interacting with your website such as how long they spend on the page, the links they tend to click and the journey they take before making a purchase. This information can help you to create the best user experience on your website to reduce ad spend and increase conversion rate.
If you need further advice regarding SEO or have been told something that doesn’t sound quite right – we’re more than happy to help. Sign up for our free SEO webinar, hosted live by two of our in-house SEO specialists where you’ll have the opportunity to ask some of those burning questions you have on your mind.
