We’ve been in the digital marketing space to realize that it’s a jumbled mess of information. For SEO and how Google ranks websites, there are innumerable Dos and Don’ts. SEO myths and misinformation thrive in the digital marketing sector, which is natural given how quickly things change.
This article entails the trending SEO myths, read along to get the most up-to-date SEO information! Among full-service agencies, vertical-specific boutique shops, individual consultants, and more, it’s hard to separate myth from fact for prescribing SEO advice.
Google’s algorithms keep changing all the time, because of which many ranking factors no longer matter. So, let’s dive right into in and check which factors still matter in 2021.
Myth #1: Keyword targeting doesn’t work.
Fact: Keywords are still crucial! They just aren’t behaving like they used to. Keywords still appear in the search engine results pages (SERPs), and each Google algorithm revision still focuses on the search intent even more. You must include keywords in your content; however, any efforts by content marketers and bloggers to attain a specific keyword ratio have been made obsolete by Google’s Hummingbird upgrade.
So what, keyword ratios are out? What matters is to know the best way to better ranking, for which you can:
- Focus on making content that is based on search intent.
- Understand why specific keywords are being searched.
- Organically incorporate relevant keywords in your material is.
Myth #2: Meta Tag Keywords doesn’t make a difference
Fact: Meta tag keywords make all the difference in the world. Meta tags are the data that lies between the opening and closing <head> tags on a page, it is there to provide structured metadata about a website. Hence, Meta keywords guide the audiences, as well as Google about your content. Meta tags comprise three components:
- Title tag or the header
- Meta description
- Meta keywords and phrases
Although Google does not consider the keyword Meta tag for ranking, Meta tag keywords are still important since they tell Google what your content is about. Meta tags can help make your search results more attractive, resulting in more clicks.
Myth #3: Anchor text full of keyword tags doesn’t work
Fact: Link building has become an important component of SEO techniques; there is some disagreement in the content marketing world regarding whether to use keywords in your anchor text. As the name suggests, an Anchor text points, which means that it is that clickable text in a hyperlink that takes the user to another page.
The fundamental reason content marketers disagree about the importance of keywords in anchor text is that Google penalizes excessive optimization. Google sees keyword stuffing as a red signal that hurts site rankings.
To suggest that keyword-rich anchor text does not benefit your site is incorrect because anchor text helps Google understand page content and determine relevancy with link building.
So, instead of avoiding keyword-rich anchor texts, simply diversify your anchor text and avoid over-optimization
Myth #4: More links are better than more content.
Fact: for a while, SEO experts focused on creating more links instead of creating richer content, but as it is clear, that practice no longer brings results.Now, one should rather focus on creating quality links than cramming up the content with links.Creators should build an organic link profile with rich content to boost their website’s search rankings.
But what changed? In the past, webmasters and SEO professionals exploited link building by producing chunks of links with no valuable content to enhance ranks.
As Google realized what was going on and shifted its focus to search intent to provide better content to its users, having relevant, trustworthy, and authentic links became the game-changer.
Myth #5: Too many keywords = Poor organic ranking
Fact: SEO experts and bloggers are constantly arguing how many keywords are too many, and whether Google will mark down a page for over-optimization. It should be clear by this time that only if your content is valuable and has naturally incorporated keywords, then it might perform well.
The key to avoiding over enhancement is to incorporate a wide range of keywords in your text, such as
- Keywords with a personal touch
- Product key-phrases
- Latent semantic indexing (LSI)
- Keywords with a long tail
- Keywords with a short tail
- Geo-targeting
- Keywords that define a market
- Keywords that define the customer
What’s the bottom line? Instead of counting keywords, concentrate on developing natural and valuable content for your website visitors.
Myth #6: Social Media Engagement does not aid the ranking.
Fact: It won’t be unrealistic to say that “likes” and “comments” on your social media posts do not affect your website’s Google Ranking. But we also cannot overlook its positive impact on your shares and engagement, which boosts your website’s value.
Also, shares and interactions generate social signals, which can have a major SEO impact. Most recent studies prove that sharing on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter boost social impressions and bring in many organic clicks.
Myth #7: Images do not require optimization
Fact: Google understands photos by using file names and URLs, thus optimizing your photos is essential. As a general guideline, it’s best to use photos that are supported by Google’s algorithm, which include the following file types: JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, and SVG
Your photographs must also be accessible, which demands the use of alt text. By including alt text, you can make your photographs more accessible and intelligible to those who have vision impairments or other disabilities. It also helps Google understand the images better.
Make your alt text fairly descriptive while avoiding spamming behavior. Let’s understand this with an example, instead of writing “footballs”, you can go with “footballs with double coating fiber and extra grip.”
The more informative your alt text, the more understood your image will be, and the chances of being penalized for over-optimization will be less.
Similarly, to ensure that your photographs are seen in Google’s image search, consider attaching an image sitemap and HTML markup to assist Google in understanding your material.
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