SEO can easily overwhelm and confuse beginners. Most of this confusion from someone new to seo can come from preconceived beliefs about search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Unfortunately these incorrect notions are so ingrained in people’s minds that newcomers can actually damage their sites or drop in rankings from this misinformation.
The following bolded examples are common misunderstandings about search engine optimization.
1) “My website receives lots of visitors! We get so many hits that we’ll definitely get a top rank.”
-Search engines do not have access to how many hits or visitors your site is receiving. This means that not only do search engines not know how much traffic the site has; it can’t judge how popular your website is in reality. Search engines judge popularity in another way, which will be covered in the next examples.
2) “I need even more websites to link back to my site so that my Google rankings will advance!”
-While Google uses links to some extent to gauge a website’s “popularity,” that is only a small part of the process. Inbound links are important because they lead people to visit your website. These inbound links create channels that allow you to use them as direct sources of targeted traffic.
3) “My site already ranks number one!”
-This statement is incomplete; it is missing a crucial detail. That detail is your site ranked number one for what term or keyword? It won’t do you or your site any good unless the term is relevant and pertinent to what people are searching for on the internet. Usually, a site requires ranking high across several terms and/or keywords to be significant to the search engines.
4) “My home page is the only important page.”
-Regrettably, Google and other search engines do not just index your home page. Every single page does get indexed. Therefore, all pages and parts of your site will need promotion and SEO. It is important to become conscious of the fact that SEO encompasses several different approaches and techniques….concentrating on one page or one thing is just not going to cut it in today’s competitive market
5) “I did SEO on my site already by providing my meta keyword tags.”
-Only optimizing one small part of your site will not get the results you seek for high rankings. Meta keyword tags are only one small part in the vast world of SEO. Apparently search engines feel the same way because meta keyword tags have minimal impact. These meta keyword tags are meant to be used in conjunction with other forms of SEO; and they perform best when used in an all-inclusive, well-rounded, full SEO Strategy.
Tina Plourde is an SEO Specialist at XTELWEB located in New Port Richey, FL. We perform search engine friendly Website Design & SEO Services for business clients in the United States. Contact us for a Free Consultation and SEO Analysis of your website.
