Search Engine Optimization is a widely used and known term among Webmasters. There are however many misconceptions and therefore five of these popular myths are addresses below.
1. Content is King
Fresh, original and relevant content is very important however is by no means a guarantee for getting Search Engine derived visitors. Bing, Google, Yahoo and others use several hundred factors when ranking each Site (and content comprises an important however small proportion of these factors). Good SEO focuses on many factors of a Website and not just content; for example, if two Websites are identical save for the high level domain where one is a .com and another a .edu then the .edu will be ranked as more important by the Search Engines.
2. All links are equal
Getting links to a website is very time consuming. Backlinks are however critical to getting favourable Search Engine rankings. The anchor text of a link, the relevancy of the linking Site, the rank of the linking Site and other factors all add up to how beneficial the link is for your Site. In general a link is better than no link at all however it is more valuable to have fewer high ranked sites linking to yours rather than many low ranked sites with poor linking (e.g. anchor text such as 'click here').
3. The World is Global
And just when we thought that the Internet made the world a smaller place, along came Search Engine Algorithms which love single countries, languages and so on. Targeting an Australian audience but love the cheaper hosting in the U.S.A? You may just be harming how Search Engines target your site! Want U.K. visitors but your Site language is English (U.S.)? Again the Search Engines may 'see' your site as a U.S.A. targeted site. Make sure that all aspects of your site are consistent in relation to your targeted geographic region.
4. SEO results are Guaranteed!
SEO is very much an art with a small part being science. Google, Bing, Yahoo and others don't publish their ranking algorithms and protect them fiercely. Hence it isn't possible to know exactly what will and won't work in relation to SEO. The basics of the algorithms are however widely known therefore getting these factors correct in Sites are important (e.g. inserting a relevant title meta-tag on each page).
Getting the basics right will improve the chance of a good ranking however there are no guarantees in regards to Search Engine Optimization!
5. SEO is a quick solution
SEO takes a long and determined effort and results are often not seen for very many months. Whether linking, changing to 'human friendly' URLs or any other SEO activity, do not expect to see results in a short time-frame. An aligned and common misconception is also that once the essentials of SEO are in place, the work is over and the visitors will come streaming in. SEO needs to be ongoing and improved with time.
Search Engine Optimization takes repeated and deliberate actions to be successful. Taking a long term view as well as careful planning will assist in getting the best from Search Engine Optimization.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
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3 comments:
This was a good stumble thanks!
i would like to add that content plays important role, as if you are providing valuable content then it may help in getting backlinks (other webmasters may refer to your article) and attract visitors.
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