SEO Myths and SEO Truths
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It’s interesting how myths spring up surrounding search engine optimization. Chances are that if you continue to update your site it will slowly, gradually acquire a higher Google PageRank just by organically incorporating some decent keywords. In other words, given enough time, your site can slowly approach the holy grail of being optimized for search engines.
Even if you do things that run counter to search engine optimization, some degree of higher rank will eventually happen anyway. Eventually, Google will discover your site is relevant, assuming that it actually is. Google really tries to figure out what your site is about using legitimate means.
But beware: Some search engine optimization firms can scare you into thinking that SEO is very technical and complex, and that you must have professional help in order to optimize your site. Nope. Much of it is simple common sense.
SEO is the process of getting your site easier to find for those who are searching for what your site has. Your site has to have relevancy, of course, but that’swhat SEO is all about: getting you higher up in the search engine rankings. There are easy things you can do and do better than your competing sites. You might as well go for it, because it can’t hurt.
There are several things you should concern yourself with if you choose an SEO company to optimize your site for you.
SEO companies will try and convince you that getting you up in the search engine rankings requires a lot of behind the scenes work to correctly promote your site, but it doesn’t. SEO makes a surprising amount of sense as long as you know how to link, where to link, and how many times to link. In a nutshell, you link using keywords in your anchor text, link to relevant pages, and do so more than your competitors.
Another SEO myth is that you can trick Google by hiding some text. They will eventually find out and ban your site. This is an old trick and Google can sniff it out.
Some SEO companies will promise to get you into the top ten on searches for a long list of keywords. Thing is, are they relevant, good keywords? If you choose keywords nobody else is using, then sure, but what’s the point of ranking number one in a search that nobody ever makes? SEO companies can promise all they want that they’ll get you into the “top ten,” but if they are keywords that don’t get searched, it’s meaningless.
Good search engine optimization requires you to use keywords that will eventually result in more money, but it isn’t instant. It could take six months or a year. If you take any sneaky shortcuts, you might well experience a temporary rise in your search engine rankings, but Google will probably eventually figure out what you’re up to and if that happens, your site can be banned.
Therefore, the lesson is this: if you are hiring someone or a company to do SEO for you, check their credentials and look very closely at the promises they make you so you’ll know whether they’ll actually deliver for your website where it counts: in actual search engine rankings for keywords that people actually care about.
