SEO myths to avoid in 2021
Today SEO is very essential for the growth and prosperity of your online business. SEO helps in optimizing your website to earn maximum traffic and conversions. With the help of SEO, one can drive most business to the website and lead the market.
Though SEO is very popular and has proven its benefits, the optimization world is faced with a lot of SEO myths. Some of the SEO myths are fun to read but taking these myths seriously could end up harming all the optimization efforts
In this article, we will expose some of the most common SEO myths which you should avoid in 2021 to avoid harming the efforts put in by your SEO team.
Before we discuss the SEO myths and the real truth behind them, let us first understand what is SEO? How it is helpful for an online business?
What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization; it is carried out to improve the quantity and quality of web traffic through organic search engine results.
In simple words, SEO is a practice which is used to persuade top search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo to recommend your website or content to the users as the best result or solution for their query or problem.
Now that we know what is SEO? Let us learn about the most common SEO myths to avoid in 2021.
Common SEO Myths and Facts
- SEO is dead
The biggest question every business has is that is SEO still relevant in 2021? Is SEO a dying industry? No, SEO is not dead and never will be. Search engines keep updating their algorithm to determine the search engine rankings.
As a business one needs to update their SEO strategy after each algorithm update to continue getting positive results. With the algorithm update, the value of SEO does not diminish, all you have to do is to make changes to the strategy and optimize your SEO to attain maximum results.
- Age Of The Domain Matters
The first SEO myth which you need to debunk surrounding is that the age of domain matters in the ranking process. It is believed that the higher the age of a domain regardless of other factors, it will be ranked higher as compared to the newer domains. Unfortunately, this is not a fact it is an SEO misconception.
People tend to confuse the age of a website with the age of the domain. In many instances, websites that have been for long usually accrue more backlinks over time. And the higher the backlinks you have, the higher are your chances of ranking at the top.
It is difficult for comparatively new websites to rank higher as they don’t have many backlinks to boost their SEO.
Frankly speaking, the age of the business is also a myth while considering the ranking factors. Having good brand awareness and a strong existing customer base may result in your website being searched more regularly; the fact is that it is not proven that Google’s algorithm prefers established brands over the newer ones. The truth is that the age of the business only helps in gaining more natural traffic and backlinks thanks to its reputation.
- Anchor Text Does Not Matter
When we are talking about backlinks Anchor text is an important feature for the same. The anchor text is the word or phrase which will be highlighted and underlined in the content. When clicked on the word or phrase, the reader is routed to a particular website or page. In simple words, it is like a signpost that shows the way to reach a particular place.
If the signpost is misleading, people can get lost and go on the wrong way. Similarly, if the anchor text is not correct then the reader would not be directed to the articles or content which they are looking for.
When a viewer does not find what is needed on a page, they leave immediately, this results in a high bounce rate. A high bounce rate has a negative impact on the SEO score. Therefore it is an SEO misconception that anchor text does not matter. The truth is that the quality of anchor text has a direct impact on the SEO score.
- Having Backlinks Will Lead To Higher Rankings
Backlinks play an important role in building a strong SEO profile. However, just adding backlinks to the content does not guarantee you high rankings.
SEO rankings are not determined by the quantity of the backlinks but by their quality. Try getting quality backlinks from authoritative, established sites. Just introducing links from low traffic, spam type websites will end up giving a similar impression about your website to the search engines.
The number of backlinks improve the SEO ranking is a myth, good quality links from prominent websites help in improving the SEO rankings.
- Image Alt Tags Are Not Important
When search engines send crawlers to your website to gather information in order to determine the quality of the website and the rankings, these crawlers view images using text and code.
Crawlers cannot actually view the images and determine their relevance. Introducing Alt tags in images is a way of telling them what the image is about. This helps in easy searching if anyone searches for that term or query on the search engine.
Many people search for images on the search engine. Including a keyword and a concise description of the image in your image alt tags would help boost your search ranking. If anyone searches for that specific keyword, the image on the website will appear in the search results which will direct the viewer to the site.
- Number Of Social Media Profiles and Followers Help Boost Rankings
The biggest SEO myth is that having several social media profiles with thousands of followers will boost the search engine ranking.
However, it does not mean that you do not focus on your social media profiles. The higher exposure of your social media profiles will help in increasing the flow of web traffic which in turn will help boost your profile.
To boost your rankings, you need to have a dedicated fan base that is looking for quality content. Many businesses pay people to follow them, this helps them to increase their number of social media followers.
This will not help improve the SEO rankings, though on paper a business may have thousands of followers, they are not genuine followers who will read the articles or blogs posted on your website or make actual purchases.
Final Words
In short, the only way to rank high on different search engines is by incorporating a long-term strategy introducing the best SEO practices and avoiding any kind of SEO myths and Black hat SEO practices just like cloaking. Focus on creating high quality, keyword-rich content, build good quality backlinks, and drive traffic to your website using social media.
If you are looking for professional assistance with regards to your SEO needs, contact us at GSM Marketing and we can help you with all your digital marketing needs right from website design and development to SEO.
Contact us today on 520 214-1694 or email us at [email protected], so our team can help in building your long term strategy to get the highest search engine rankings!
