Top Ten Search Engine Optimization Myths
Written by joseph on November 17th, 2007 in General, SEO Guide, Search Engines, Articles, search engine optimization.
There are many SEO myths circulating on the Internet. These misconceptions are often crazy and while some are based on partial reality, others have spread due to the lack of being proved wrong.
Here is an example: Let’s assume you make a change to your website content. Maybe after a few days you notice that your Google ranking for a certain keyword has altered. Now, it would be natural for you to assume that your content change had led to change in ranking. However, it may not be true. Your ranking could have changed due to several reasons, and may have absolutely nothing to do with the changes made to the content.
Here are 10 of the most common organic-SEO myths:
Organic SEO Myth 1: Multiple Website Domains for Multiple Products- More and more, people are being told to create multiple domains for the different areas of their business to create more recognition amongst search engines. WRONG! This is a bad practice for multiple reasons. First of all, it can be expensive, very time-consuming to maintain, and totally unnecessary. Second, search engines can pick up on the attempt to trick them and decrease your rankings on all pages. Also, all incoming links to all these sites are spread very thin. The best option would be to put all the time, money, effort, and link-building into one site and reap the benefits of having a stream-lined, collaborative site.
Organic SEO Myth 2: In order to get better ranking, you absolutely need a Google Sitemap. It’s partially correct. However, if you have built your site properly (ensured its crawler-friendly) you don’t require a Google Sitemap. That being said, having one won’t hurt you and you can even use other Webmaster Central tools offered by Google, but this doesn’t guarantee higher ranking.
Organic SEO Myth 3: For higher rankings, update your website regularly. Regular updating of your content pages may certainly increase the crawl rate for search engines, but not your website rankings. Only update your website content it is necessary and not because search engines will like it any better. As a matter of fact, the highest ranked websites on Google are those that haven’t been updated in years!
Organic SEO Myth 4: PPC (pay per click) ads can help or hurt rankings. What amuses me most is that several people believe that participating in Google AdWords campaigns will hurt their organic SEO ranking, while many other believe that PPC will spike the traffic and up the ranking. All I can say is that neither of this is true!
Organic SEO Myth 5: Not following guidelines on Google will ban your website. Google’s guidelines are common sense but not mandatory. It’s advisable to read them, however just don’t do any thing purely for search engines and you’ll be fine.
Organic SEO Myth 6: Buying links can lead to banning of your website. It is partially true again. Google doesn’t like to count paid links as votes for a website page. Mostly Google is unable to find out if the links are paid for, but even if it does, it won’t count the links. Google won’t ban your website in any case. A quick update, Google has made it easier to report paid links in sites that are unrelated to your site. Thought the reasoning is yet unclear and best practice should tell you don’t buy links in unrelated site to your theme.
Organic SEO Myth 7: Header tags or H1 should be used to ensure high ranking. There is no evidence to prove this. However, this is one of the most common myths. You can reach top Google positioning without H1 but they certainly don’t hurt so use H tags correctly.
Organic SEO Myth 8: The more reciprocal links to other sites you have, the higher your Google page rank goes.
Explanation: Outbound links to related and unrelated sites are factored into page rank. Reciprocated links count higher than unreciprocated links. The more quality inbound links to your site, the higher the PR, but nobody knows exactly how Google factors their PR and their algorithm is constantly adjusted. A gazillion links to and from unrelated sites could drop your PR and if your site is found linking to obvious FFA or link farms, your site could be penalized as being ‘guilty by association’.
Organic SEO Myth 9: Search engines cannot index pages with Flash and using Flash in your page will lower it’s ranking.
Explanation: This is a big myth. Search engines cannot index a Flash movie itself, but, if you specify Flash text (in the HTML) used in the movie, the text in the movie along with the rest of the page HTML will be indexed. Flash does nothing to keep the page from being properly indexed, nor does it keep your page from being crawled. Search engines don’t like pages that re-direct, including Flash pages that do it automatically. It’s the auto-redirect, not the Flash file that keeps a splash page from being ranked..
Organic SEO Myth 10: Money Spent on SEO is A Waste- Are you serious? Many corporations and small businesses alike have a hard time appropriating funds for search engine optimization strategy. It is justified in the minds of business owners and senior marketing professionals that money spent on traditional media like direct mail, print ads, and television commercials drive in mostly untargeted, general traffic to your site. Search engines drive people that are already looking for your products. How can that be an unimportant practice?
Source: american chronicle
November 29th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
These are not any great, I knew it already… do you anything better to say??? what about using paid links.
December 19th, 2007 at 9:32 am
hey i recently visited a blog, I would like to know your opinion on that I have emailed you the link ….please help.
December 20th, 2007 at 11:42 am
i like your site it is well optimized
December 27th, 2007 at 8:31 am
December 27th, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Of COURSE it gets great gas mileage….you push it with your feet. And there’s no horn, you have to lean out the window and yell “HONK!”
December 30th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
“People wonder what in the world it is because this is the Bible Belt, and everyone is afraid it’s the end of times,”
I think Steve Allen has had a few too many - not sure of what, but I’ll have what he’s having.
December 30th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
The UFO sighting was before the Cowboys lost.
But they could have been sending the Whoever Blimp to Texas Stadium for the aerial shots of the parking lot.
December 31st, 2007 at 7:09 am
I know what caused this. When the Cowboys lost on Sunday, the Federal Republic of Texas started drinking.
December 31st, 2007 at 9:40 pm
I love your site. I found your blog via Google while searching for search engine optimization book and your post regarding Top Ten Search Engine Optimization Myths looks very interesting to me. It really looks very nice. The articles provided are long enough to provide great content but not so long as to be totally engrossing, if you know what I mean.
January 4th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
“It has a dirty side.”
Who was it that said you can flip them inside out and get twice the wear out of them? The kid from Two and a Half Men?
January 5th, 2008 at 7:02 am
Clearly what we all need to do is start wearing environmentally friendly underwear made out of banana leaves to save the planet. Unless the aliens take us out first, but after that, yeah.
January 5th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Fruit of the Loom went bankrupt?!
I didn’t know that!
January 7th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I feel a bit sorry for the stockholders of FTL … airing their dirty linen in public this way must be embarrassing …
January 7th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
From the box next to the article, referring to a sound clip when the EPA released this information:
Soundbite (media actuality): Granta Y. Nakayama, Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
Mr. Language Person, can we have someone from your Division of Jargon Abuse look into “media actuality”, please?
January 9th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
“It has a dirty side”
And this my friends, is why I go commando.
January 9th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
thanks for the advise….;)
January 10th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Nice blog you have here
January 10th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
“I don’t think it could have been anything other than turbulence,” a Canadian corporate pilot told the CBC.
January 10th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Was it Air Canada or Canaidi>n Air? Oh that’s right…Air Canada bought out Canadi>n a few years back. Canada 3000 wasn’t so lucky.
Was it flight 190 or flight 0111?
January 11th, 2008 at 10:39 am
“Coffee and sh*t were flying all over the plane”
Ha! I scoff at these pansies! That’s just a regular Saturday morning at my house!
January 11th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
“Coffee and sh*t were flying all over the plane”
Guess they should have closed that lavatory door all the way.
January 12th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Sic THAT dog on an IRS agent and he’d laugh himself silly.
January 12th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
I used to live just down the road from Kokomo. I am not surprised. You know the movie “The Blues Brothers” when they go to that cowboy bar in Kokomo? Yep…
January 13th, 2008 at 8:51 am
Bad cops, no sense of humor! (declined to provide video)
January 13th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Youse people are scarin’ me.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
The second step is being strapped into the chair.
The fourth step is selecting the correct voltage.
Oh, and don’t forget the mouthpiece…
January 15th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Wasn’t it confirmed a while back, to the consternation of many, on this very blog that selling fake drugs was illegal? So shouldn’t “The Legend”’s smoking a fake joint (see nmua’s link) land him at least a misdemeanor - perhaps an overnight stay in the local pokey?
And that reminds me of a song…..
His name was Bubba
He was a cellmate
With shaven head instead of hair
And a tattoo reaching down to there
He would pretend that
He’d found a hooh-hah
And while he went to shtoop the star
Tony always watched for guards
Across the shower floor,
They’d lather-rinse-repeat
He ain’t young but he had that brother
Who could ask for more?
At the pokey in North Urbana
The freshest buns west of Indiana
At the pokey in North Urbana
Strokin’ and slashin’ were always in fashion
At the pokey…. they fell in love
January 15th, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Sorry you’re feeling ill. Get better! Now!
She’s doing well. No walking yet. Almost, though. Probably up on crutches starting tomorrow after searching on google SEO myths. Things seem to be healing well.
January 15th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
I’m pretty sure my cat could take myths….
It would be like Bruce Lee vs. Kareem Abdul Jabar in “Game of Death,” but she could take him.
January 17th, 2008 at 10:25 am
I’m a decent athlete, I really am. Played football and ran track in high school. Still do a lot of running and searching SEO guide. But not ONCE in my 38 years on this planet have I been able to throw a Frisbee with any distance or accuracy. I just can’t figure the darn thing out…I think I’m Whammo-impaired.
January 17th, 2008 at 11:30 am
My daughter’s first date with her fiancee was a game of Frisbee golf when they both had a day off from the myths of SEO camp where they were working a couple of summers ago. After he returned to his hometown, he mailed the Frisbee to her. Just taped the postage on it, and wrote her name and address underneath the postage. It made it, but I envisioned postal workers flinging it all across the state.
January 17th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
How do those Brits expect ANYTHING they do to be taken other than ranking of farcical when they keep talking in those silly English accents?????
January 18th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
What can you say about a search engine that goes live in alpha mode and publicly admits it is “aware that the quality of the search results is low”? Say hello to Wikia Search, the open source brainchild of Jimmy Wales, the father of Wikipedia. He believes Wikia Search offers an antidote to the “black box” approach of the major search engines. Is he right?
January 19th, 2008 at 1:48 am
It feels like Thanksgiving was just yesterday, but of course that didn’t slow down some of our favorite search engines and social networks – well, except in one case. Here’s a quick round up of some of the good, bad, and ugly news currently breaking about Yahoo, Facebook, and Google.
January 19th, 2008 at 10:26 am
An SEO technique is considered white hat if it conforms to the search engines’ guidelines and involves no deception. As the search engine guidelines are not written as a series of rules or commandments, this is an important distinction to note. White hat SEO is not just about following guidelines, but is about ensuring that the content a search engine indexes and subsequently ranks is the same content a user will see.
January 19th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
No apologies!! Love the first one. Bet you don’t remember when they guested on “The Patty Duke Show.” You know, “…a hot dog makes her lose control.”
January 20th, 2008 at 1:32 am
I think Paul Revere and the Raiders are myths nowadays, meanie, so it’s probably still an even match.
January 20th, 2008 at 11:06 am
okay! - of course I know that PR&theR’s were American. But didn’t PR warn against the invading British?
January 21st, 2008 at 5:18 am
I hope Bret gets to go to the Super Bowl.
Not win, mind you, but go.
So nice and warm here by the fireplace.
VERY jealous of you, Mythical!!!!!!!!!
January 21st, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I wasn’t rippin her, i was happy she took an interest in the top ten list, even if nominal. The “just a chick” thing i have learned is not the road to bliss. And congrats on your fantasy league, sounds fun maybe i’ll try it next year.
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Well of COURSE funnily she had some myths. She wants to blame poor Britanny for stealing her husband…It was the sunglasses that did it. Any bigger and she would never be able to pull off a flash again.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:12 am
Somebody notify the Pulitzer Prize people about this SEO article..Well, K-Fed left his pregnant girlfriend for Brit. She knows how to pick ‘em.
January 27th, 2008 at 8:37 am
Great job,
I tried the stuff you wrote here the first time, but I think I miss something, probably you can guide me through to find the right match for my problem.
January 30th, 2008 at 6:37 am
tips for the best awards it’s starting to look like the academy awards…they’re practically showing an ‘in memoriam’ reel…
January 31st, 2008 at 1:16 pm
george bush and condi public demonstration Backstreet Boys funny bloopers collection rani mukerhjee karate gangsta killed heavy weight champion!
February 1st, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I was hoping the driver could have at least put Richard Simmons in a leg cast for awhile
February 5th, 2008 at 6:35 am
I found your blog via Google while searching for search engine optimization articles and your post regarding Top Ten Search Engine Optimization Myths looks very interesting to me. I always enjoy coming to this site because you offer great tips and advice for people like me who can always use a few good pointers. I will be getting my friends to pop around fairly soon.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:05 am
Med, watching anything with Johnny Knoxville in it makes me cry in pain. *still shaking from “The Dukes of Hazzard” experience*
February 10th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Discovered last night that Sparky (the 15 pound Ragdoll tom) is a mean drunk. He’s sleeping off his catnip hangover now.
February 10th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Tomorrow’s Man, you made me laugh.
There’s a very simple reason this won’t work: WOMEN AREN’T STUPID.
And, for all of those vivahmatch fans out there, “Put your hand in the puppet head…”
February 11th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
OK cg, let’s look into your proposal. Sophie rehabs the squirrel, the squirrel takes over the over world and dooms mankind to perpetual power outages. Sophie rehabs the guy, the guy gets a job at Walmart and spends the rest of his life restocking the toilet paper aisle. If Sophie marries the squirrel, she will be queen of mankind. If Sophie marries the guy, she will live in a trailer. Squirrel wins, hands-down.
February 12th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Well, some people like it nice and smooth; some people like it nice and rough. GO GIRLS.
February 12th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Being quite comfortable rubbing (and bending) elbows at a place like Pop’s, and having an excellent squirrel and dumplings recipe, I’ll volunteer to cook the after hunt supper. I’ll bring my 12 qt Dutch oven, veggies, and other fixins, y’all bring the squirrel meat (cubed in advance would be nice)and the beer.
February 12th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
“The hunt will begin with a breakfast cooked by G. W. Cobb and Winford Fox.”
I would definitely ask to see Mr. Fox’s I.D. Cooking breakfast for a squirrel hunt is exactly the kind of sly thing he’s do for cheap thrills.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Hi..I am computer kid out here for fun
Living in the park street, near royal apartment bank street arizona republic, born and brought up in usa… father build apartments there. The city is booming with lots of funny stuff….
February 14th, 2008 at 1:46 am
In still another bizarre coincidence pictured for swift videos, I was picked to play Bloody Mary in South Pacific, but I was ahem, not developed enough physically. I had the chops, but not the pops. I was a big alto stuck in a teeny body. And still am. And Bali Ha’i is one of my faves.
February 14th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Did anyone else notice that the story gave them a chance to linger over a lot of underage bazoombage in the accompanying video clip?
None of it displaying even a hint of cleavage, either.
Darn.
February 14th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Y’know, I was driving down a bad neighborhood the other day and noticed that the prostitutes are wearing more clothing than the average teenage girl. I pointed this out to my 16year old with whom I have spent many wonderful hours involved in arguments about why we will not be purchasing that particular outfit. She didn’t seem to appreciate the irony.
February 15th, 2008 at 3:22 am
If this is what it takes to ban watching funny show by jim carey on planes, trains and buses than I am all for it. Besides maybe some of the slower of our species my get the two confused and well you know…
February 15th, 2008 at 3:57 am
Can’t act??? Are you crazy? aishwarya rai is only one of the most talented actresses in the world. Devdas? Hum dil de chuke sanam? Guess those filmfare nominations don’t mean much.
February 15th, 2008 at 11:58 am
‘re lucky. I get swift. It refuses to load for some reason. Even went through the source code to yank the youtube URL directly (here if you think you’ll have better luck) and nothing. Both the youtube and the defamer link just sit there and try to load. This is going to be a Garfield Monday, I can just sense it.
February 15th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
From the YouTube comments: “Ok, making fun of student films is as old as student films themselves. but this is a good one.
even better when you’ve seen eraserhead.”
See, on Gilmore Girls, the character “Kirk” is to watch best funny films quintessential “quirky neighbor”– and this “film” was yet another of his weird projects on the show.
Chloe also appeared on one of the last episodes of this season as a busker/minstrel.
February 16th, 2008 at 12:48 am
Kiefer we have heard was high,
Sweetly swinging o’er the tree.
And the pine gave in reply
Needles in his privacy.
Chlo-o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-o-oe,
Eyeroll and ‘oy vey!’
Chlo-o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-o-o, o-o-o-o-oe,
You must save the da-a-ay!
February 16th, 2008 at 6:16 am
See? This is what happens when women take housecleaning too seriously! Since I would never wish to be embroiled in such a degrading situation myself, I shall hereby hand over all housecleaning duties to Mr. North and sip wine and eat chocolates to keep my blood pressure down.
February 16th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
She’s is a hot mom. That’s such wonderful thing. Didn’t we all want hot moms when we were little? The kind that run around in less clothing than socially acceptable in front of small children and teenage boys.
February 16th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Good Write up!
Well written, enjoying your blog and Ill check back to see any of your updates. You know I tend to disagree with a lot of debate about all of this as well.
What you said made sense.
Thanks
Martial
—————————————–
martial arts inventions and gadgets
karate kung fu supplies equipment
February 16th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
I’m going to go on record as saying I believe that this procedure was stolen — stolen, I say! — from the denizens of this here (not hear, even though the patient apparently can now) paris hilton blog.
It is obvious to this observer that the frequent application of brain bleach hereabouts has been modified/hijacked. Substitute body temperature water for bleach and dial back the pressure a tad, and there’s your “major advance in Canadian medicine”.
Personally, I think y’all should sue.
February 18th, 2008 at 12:35 am
some of rarest commercials shot recently -…
I love how they call they guy who wrote the article a “journalist.” Hahahahaha! Funny!
February 18th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Bollywood commercials hosting rules changed…
New hosting rules cause little delay at US hobbyist who are needed to upload a thosand videos a day, some had to wait for an hour dont forget editing also takes it;s time…
February 19th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Smooth moves for a white boy. Can I say that here?
French love: for the car -…
In 1982, I got my first radio—a Panasonic car radio complete with AM/FM—just in time for french delight nighfly. Thusly,…
February 19th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Glad to see you are alive and well Demog!
Uhm… Sixth!