There is a lot of misinformation being passed
around about SEOs. Unfortunately, some people's inability to make sense of this
information can leads to poor decision making.
In the SEO industry, there is no shortage of myths.
Unfortunately, CEOs who should know better still hang onto these myths like
their lives depend on it.
Here is a list of four popular SEO beliefs that
are undeniably wrong, yet still being used:
Correlation Studies Show Us How Algorithms Work.
SEO blogs generally lists of ranking factors such
as Moz, SMORush, Backlinko and Search Metrics. The problem is, none of these
are ranking factors. No one really knows or understands how Google does its
rankings. And many of rankings are considered suspect, at best.
The ranking factors list is also a list of how
can be measured based on the public data available. Correlation is little more
than chance and should never be substituted for experience or personal
experimentation.
Guest Blogging is Against Google's Term of Service
This is also a falsehood. The initial story was
written in 2014 by blogger Matt Cutts. He wrote a one story stating that people
probably should not use Google for guest blogging then contradicted himself
later, listing the reasons why people should use Google for guest blogging. The
posts were a source of great confusion. Cutts came back to apologize and
clarify his statements.
Social Signals Are A Ranking Factor
There is a lot of back and forth regarding this
issue.
Michael Cutts says:
"Social media pages are treated like any
other web index pages, so if something occurs on social media we find relevant,
it can be returned in the search results. But as far specific work, no such
signals are available," according to Cutts.
The myth about ranking factors began when
Rankbrain was introduced. While there was no real proof regarding ranking
factor as related to social signals, there was a great deal of speculation.
Regardless of the findings, no one is telling
people not to invest in social media marketing. It is just a warning to let
individuals know that SEO benefits may not give you the results you're looking
for.
Links Are the "Most Important" Ranking Factor
While some professionals still hang onto this
belief, it has also been discredited. Although some insist links are far more
important, algorithms are considered much more relevant. Some of the bad points
of links include:
- Users facing penalization
- Encouraged little research
- Users missing important values
- Content being downplayed
- Users missing tags
- The creation of SEO spam
