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55 SEO Misconceptions, False Rumors & Blatant Lies

1/23/10 - Written by: Nick LeRoy


SEO Misconceptions
It doesn't matter if you're a search marketing professional or just do
enough to get a little extra attention pointed towards your site.Every
person who dabbles in search engine optimization is plastered with
"hints" and "tips" regarding SEO. I would like to take this opportunity
to share with you some minconceptions, false rumors and in some
cases blatant lies that are associate with SEO.


SEO Misconceptions

1. Meta Keywords add value to your search rankings.
2. Content should be written for the search engines only.
3. Content within pictures can be read by search engines.
4. JavaScript is now 100% search engine friendly.
5. Flash programming is now 100% search engine friendly.
6. Image files don't need to be named after keywords or include image alt tags.
7. Hiding text within the background is only bad if you do it more than ___ times.
8. Placing text behind images and CSS elements is not considered "hidden text".
9. It's easy to rank for keywords without having to place the keywords within your content.
10. SEO is a one time thing
11. There is no need to continue building links after a ranking is achieved
12. SEO campaigns will always instantly bring additional traffic to your site.
13. An Ad Words campaign will give you favorable organic search results in Google.
14. Title tags don't need to be unique for pages that you don't want to be optimized.
15. Description tags don't need to be unique for any non-optimized pages.
16. Link building is only needed for your homepage.
17. Links are links and a large quantity of any links will garner a top ranking.
18. SEO is a guarantee and top ranking are right around the corner.
19. SEO is quick and easy.
20. Every page within your site MUST be indexed in the search engines to be successful.
21. Higher the PageRank = Higher search rankings.
22. No follow links have zero SEO value.
23. Focusing on two or three high traffic generating keywords is enough.
24. Long tail keywords aren't valuable because they only bring a couple visits per day.
25. Keyword research is only needed if you don't know your customers or products.
26. Linking out to other pages "leaks" your page rank - so avoid it at all cost.
27. Keyword matching domains automatically boost you up to #1 in the SERPS.
28. You can avoid duplicate content by changing a few words or adding an extra image.
29. Web Developers and Search Marketing Specialists offer the same service.
30. Site loading time has no effect on conversions (soon to affect rankings?)
31. Dynamic websites absolutely cannot get indexed in the search engines.
32. SEO is one done on your website.
33. Black hat SEO techniques are needed to get ahead of your competitors sites
34. There is only one "right" technique to obtain search engine results.
35. Social media doesn't compliment SEO at all.
36. Google hates BOTH white hat and black hat SEO's
37. A search engine # 1 listing will always bring traffic to your site.
38. Bing and Yahoo don't matter since Google gets roughly 70% of all searches.
39. URL based links offer zero value.
40. Niche forum links offer zero value
41. Any redirect will pass SEO value from one page to another (301,302, etc.)
42. Having an RSS feed = SEO.
43. If you rank well for a singular keyword, you also rank for that plural keyword too..
44. Analytics or tracking software isn't necessary for your site.
45. Google Webmaster Tools is only valuable for large websites.


As you can tell from the above list, a lot of information is tossed around the internet. Some of these misconceptions can just be time wasters while others can be detrimental to your search engine optimization campaign. One of the biggest challenges of SEO is staying up to date with the latest SEO tactics and algorithm changes. Some of the tactics/ideas listed above were at one point useful but have been abused and since been devalued significantly.

Finally, I would like to end this article with a top 10 utterly false and blatant lies that you should not accept from anyone excercising search engine optimization.


Top 10 Utterly False Rumors & Blatant Lies

46. SEO is dead - **SEO is not dead - however it is always evolving**
47. Google has a fee associated with submitting your site to their search index.
48. Google charges to use their analytics or webmaster tools accounts.
49. If a website is banned it's automatically because they are black hat scum.
50. SEO guarantees - "We promise #1 search results in 3 weeks time!"
51. Anyone claiming SEO is an exact science and they have it mastered.
52. Any claims to know the exact algorithm to any of the search engines.
53. Guarantees for inclusion into DMOZ directory.
54. Any claims that say back links aren't needed to achieve rankings for quality keywords.
55. The Google "sandbox" prevents sites from ranking in the search engines.


About The Author

Nick LeRoy is the Search Marketing Specialist at DKS Systems. DKS Systems is a Minnesota Web Design firm specializing in e-commerce, CMS, SEO and much more!

Check out DKS Systems on Facebook or follow Nick on Twitter @DKS_Systems

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