On the surface, the concept of search-engine optimization (SEO) is fairly simple: improving your website so that it appears higher in Google search results. However, it’s not as easy as using a relevant word or phrase here and there and calling it a day. It’s a complex system of nearly countless factors that all play a part in helping your site get ranked.
And, with as complex a system as Google’s ranking algorithm is, it’s easy to draw false conclusions or get wrapped up in false information as to how it actually works. But before we jump into the wild world of SEO myths, it’s worth pointing out that this is by no means an exhaustive list. There are almost as many SEO falsities out there as there are truths. That said, let’s dive in!
The low-volume versus high-volume keyword debate is a bit of a balancing act. While both have their own strengths, low-volume keywords (also known as “long-tail keywords” due to the nature of them being closer to a sentence than a phrase) help your brand target niche markets and specific audience segments. In fact, the return on investment for them is way higher than the alternative. Sometimes, a keyword that receives only 10 to 40 searches per month might directly correspond with a product that retails at thousands of dollars!
By using high-volume keywords, you’re much more likely to get drowned out in the sheer volume of other sites using the same word. It’s only once you build enough ranking credibility that you’ll start to break through—and the best way to build up to that is with low-volume keywords.
It’s easy to feel a bit daunted when you’re going up against the Goliaths in your industry. The key to bumping up your online presence comes down to three simple words: strategy, strategy, strategy. With the proper research, planning, and execution, you can make even a meager SEO budget pay off huge dividends.
Think of it like running. When you first start off, unless you’re some form of cardiovascular god, you’ll most likely have a rough go of it. You’ll get tired easily, can’t go as far as you’d hope, and feel discouraged due to the lack of immediate results. But if you stick with it, you’ll gradually hit new milestones on each run.
Back in the early aughts of the internet, keyword stuffing did matter. Now, with Google’s search and ranking algorithm becoming more advanced by the hour, not so much. While there are some rules as to how many times to use a keyword and where to place it in your articles and webpages, the overall frequency of its use in a piece has absolutely no impact on your site’s rankings.
At worst, it makes your article sound AI-written, and another victim of the sinister Dead Internet Theory—the idea all content is created by bots or artificial intelligences (which is starting to become increasingly prevalent, to be fair). At best, you’ll get some clicks but no converted long-term users to your site.
In a similar vein, another trap new SEO writers fall into is the idea that more content equals more rankings. In fact, having more pages of duplicative, low-quality content can have a negative impact on your search rankings. You’re better off having fewer, higher-quality pages and articles instead.
The goal of SEO is to attract relevant traffic and convert visitors into longtime users and future business. So, while keywords do help cater to search engines, and are the most popular aspect of SEO, they alone don’t pull all the weight. Ultimately, you need to serve the user first and foremost, and that starts with a great user experience (UX). Making sure your site is usable, fluid, and engaging will pay huge dividends in getting ranked and retaining a loyal userbase.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Your website’s credibility and ranking won’t be, either. SEO takes time, effort, and a lot of studying. It can take weeks or even months to see a noticeable improvement. Especially if you’re only selecting highly competitive keywords to write to or ignoring the usability of your site in favor of pumping out more and more content.
That takes us back again to the running analogy. If you’re fresh off the couch, you’re most likely not hitting a record 5k on the first day. It takes time, as well as plenty of days where you feel like you’re only go backwards, to hit your end goal.
Congratulations! After months of research, design, keeping up with industry trends, and getting your site ranked, you can kick back and relax.
Nope. Pedal to the metal.
Think of SEO rankings as a microcosm of the market: if you don’t actively promote your business and attempt to evolve to current trends and consumer expectations, you might as well just give up. Now that you’ve established yourself, you need to make sure you both keep that position as well as boost your visibility online. This might require you to reevaluate your current strategy—and sometimes even burn it down and start from scratch to keep your site from going stale.
We haven’t reached Skynet-levels of artificial intelligence (yet). But nothing will ever truly replace the innately human ability to create, strategize, and execute. For now, AI is an incredibly powerful complement to SEO. You can utilize it to come up with fresh content ideas, keywords, and help with any research or questions you might have (just make sure to fact-check everything afterwards). As long as people continue to have questions, want to purchase products, or search for anything under the sun, organic results and human-driven SEO will continue to matter. Take that, robots!
While a smooth, clean, fully optimized desktop site looks nice and feels official, it’s not the end-all of SEO. Presently, nearly 50% of all web traffic is driven from mobile devices, so the current Google algorithm favors mobile search results. So, catering towards mobile browsing is more important than ever. This means making sure your mobile UX is easy to use and fluid, and your site is easily readable, among a whole other slew of unique mobile qualifications.
Additionally, make sure your keywords aren’t as complex. Given that mobile users are less likely to type a longer search query, the challenge here is finding the perfect long-tail keyword that isn’t too long. Presently, the average mobile search is 2.5 words or 15.5 characters in length. If your keyword is too long, those mobile users will find competitors that have a stronger keyword and are higher ranked. If too short, you just get drowned out in the mess. It might feel like a lose-lose, but it just takes a little research and trial and error to get there.
That said, this is where the importance of meta descriptions comes into play.
Spoiled this one just a sentence ago. But, yes, they’re important.
Here’s what a well-written meta description does do: provides a valuable summary to influence users and encourage them to visit your site, while establishing a consistent brand message even before the click.
Here’s what a well-written meta description doesn’t do: impact your site’s search engine ranking.
Wait, didn’t I just say that they’re important? They are, but not in the way that you think. Like AI, they help supplement your site and SEO. A well-written description can boost the click through-rates (which also doesn’t impact SEO) of your organic search results. This, then, works to get even more eyes on your website—and your brand—and creates a great metric to help evolve your SEO strategy going forward.
Due to the capricious and rapidly changing nature of SEO, it can feel like you’re constantly behind the eight ball. But if you learn to avoid these 9 common SEO mistakes, you (and your brand) will be ranking in no time at all.
Alec Sarnowski is a content writer, SEO junkie, and serial comma abuser for one of the most dynamic content agencies in Atlanta.
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