So, Google changed their search algorithm again, huh? Don't fret! Search engine optimization is an ever-changing, yet oh-so-important component to your marketing campaign.
Because it is ever-changing, we want to empower you with some basic rules. Hubspot created a presentation called "17 SEO Myths You Should Leave Behind in 2014," from which we selected 10 that spoke to us the most, and decided to share them with our followers. Here's what we came up with:
1. "SEO is something I can hand off to IT"
This is like asking your car mechanic to fix a leak under your kitchen sink. Chances are, (s)he probably can do it, but that doesn't mean (s)he's the right person for the job. If you can't figure out how to get your stellar content up on your site, then it's okay to call in IT.
2. "More links are better than more content"
While you shouldn't abandon ship on link-building, there's a possibility that you should be investing more time generating quality content. Notice how we said quality, and not quantity, too. Neither links nor content should be a numbers game, quality trumps in both cases.
3. "Social Media and SEO aren't related at all"
Oh but they are! A term you may start to hear more often is "social search," which is the product of SEO plus social media. In social search, content is often prioritized through your friends or followers, or through social media influencers to whom you may not be connected.
4. "Keywords need to be an exact match"
Rather than trying to repeat keywords throughout the piece, focus on making sure they are included in the headline, which should be about 4 to 9 words in length and clearly explain what the content is about. Great rule of thumb: headlines should inform the reader, not the search engines.
5. "My homepage needs a lot of content"
A homepage with too much content will likely turn away visitors very quickly. On the other hand, little or no text is bad for SEO. Without writing a novel, provide visitors with enough information that sums up who you are, what you do and where you're located.
6. "The more pages I have, the better"
Though having more pages increases your chances of showing up in a search, quality content still trumps the number of pages on your site.
7. "Google will never know if I have bad sites linking to me"
Google. Knows. All. And, trust us, you will be penalized for taking shortcuts.
8. "SEO is all about ranking"
Despite the correlation between search result placement and clickthrough rates, ranking is no longer the all-mighty gateway to success. Again, focusing on content that is useful to your visitors is better than attracting twice the among of the wrong traffic.
9. "Meta descriptions have a huge impact on search rankings"
Meta descriptions are those preview snippets on Google SERPs (search engine result pages), which ultimately tell you what the page is about. In 2009, Google announced that these do not impact search ranking. Don't neglect your pages' meta descriptions, though. This text is what ultimately drives visitors to or away from your page. Make it unique and attractive, and don't stress too much about heavy keyword placement.
10. "SEO and inbound marketing don't mix"
This is, perhaps, the largest myth of them all! SEO is an important moving part to the inbound marketing methodology, especially in the first stage of attracting the right visitors to your site.
Remember, quality content trumps all! Write for your visitors, not for the search engines. Now that you've read these 10 SEO no-no's, don't be afraid to ask yourself what you should be doing differently.
