SEO sometimes divides opinion among experts. Of course, this is not unusual in any industry. Many have their best practices, and most things about the Google search engine and its algorithm, or ranking behavior, can only be guessed at, unless Google communicates it publicly. It is often increased experience that makes us say: That’s the way it is! But as the saying goes in statistics (and describes life well): Variables can correlate, but do not promise causality.
This also applies to search engine optimization and organic search. Nevertheless, misinformation occasionally creeps into the assumptions and facts. This means that with some SEO strategies there is a firmly anchored certainty that they work (or don’t work) where there really shouldn’t be any, because in principle they are nothing more than SEO myths.
Those who unknowingly hold on to this false information can lose valuable time. These are often unsightly measures that cost customers and traffic, among other things. Lost sales that could have been invested in other important search engine optimization measures, for example. In this blog post, we would therefore like to clear up the biggest misinformation we know about SEO and make it clear to you what sounds like ranking factors, for example, but actually aren’t and why.
We take a look at the biggest misinformation in recent years.
SEO myth 1: The ranking is influenced by social signals
Myths like these have long prevailed. Social signals refer to shares, likes and everything that belongs to the field of social media. Content that is well received on sites such as Instagram, Facebook and the like must inevitably be recognized by Google and lead to better success in the search results, right?
This is not a bad idea in itself and, to a certain extent, users who become aware of you on social media platforms are certainly willing to find your company in organic searches. Backlinks in particular are a factor that should not be underestimated and are closely linked to social media. High follower numbers can be directed to your website through clever marketing.
So in principle, maintaining a good social media profile is not a bad or irrelevant thing. We are more concerned with the myth of social signals in combination with a high ranking.
John Mueller from Google officially mentioned in 2015 that social signals have no direct influence on search engine rankings.
This is due to the fact that many companies resort to buying followers and it is certainly not an uncommon measure to cheat their popularity and be perceived more positively. In the same way, likes and comments also serve the purpose of getting in touch with the target group and users and building more personal relationships. However, this does not say much about your search engine optimization and the content on your website.
Especially as bots can also be easily purchased here to write and like messages. Often, not even a purchase is necessary, as many uncontrolled bots are up to mischief on social media platforms such as Instagram.
What really counts is your content, because what has high shareability will also be shared. Here’s how they really benefit from visibility via social media and rank in organic search:
- Your content, e.g. individual posts, will appear in the search because the brand name or the keyword for it ranks organically.
- Google itself recognizes that certain content on sites such as Twitter or Pinterest is relevant for the search results, which is why the crawler includes it in the index.
SEO myth 2: SEO has no relevance/is dead
This statement makes many of us smile, because it has become commonplace. In fact, this myth is based on a small half-truth. But we strongly advise against declaring SEO dead. Optimizing your website is important and effectively addressing and picking up the target group, e.g. via suitable words in snippets, is an important part of SEO. Or mobile SEO, which is more relevant than ever right now. Google is about to remove websites from the organic search results that have not been optimized for mobile devices.
Ergo: SEO has merely become more honest, more complex and, above all, more oriented towards the users of the search engine. The decisive difference and partial death of SEO lies in the so-called content gold rush. Something that many of you probably don’t mourn either.
Back then, it was possible to chase one pack of content after another into the search results without much focus on quality in order to catch as many search queries as possible. The top positions in the rankings were occupied by texts that were packed with keywords and could hardly be deciphered.
Many are annoyed because this simplicity of producing content is now a thing of the past and actual thought and work must be put into all SEO measures. The search engine should be dominated by relevant and important content that also provides a valid answer for certain search terms. It is not the spammers who should be successful, but the customer-oriented companies.
SEO myth 3: Duplicate content has a negative impact on rankings
Google’s Panda update officially ended the era of the content gold rush. The search queries were clear again and it was possible to make a search query without fear of texts full of irrelevant words and keywords.
But while quality and calm finally returned to the SERPs, an old fear was followed by a new one. The question of what is actually allowed now dominates in relation to content of all kinds. But above all duplicate content.
You probably know this. A uniform footer is a wonderful thing for the target group and clarity, and there are often uniform texts for certain products that you are not the only one to use. But what if Google perceives this as duplicate content that serves as spam and, despite good intentions, is likely to result in a low ranking?
For those who may not have known: This is also a widespread myth that has no relevance for good SEO – because Google recognizes this and is very accommodating in this regard.
John Mueller responded to a specific question of this nature to clear up this misinformation. This is because it is quite normal for websites to have duplicate content to a certain extent (for example, for the reasons just mentioned). Not everything is based on the intention to spam and to rank as easily as possible for keywords and to capture leads. Google knows this and handles this form of content accordingly.
SEO myth 4: Keyword research is obsolete
A very, very fatal myth that can cost the foundation of good SEO. It is due to a frustration of the competition, because you are not the only company that may want to and will rank for one or the other keyword. So if an incredible number of people rank for one of your keywords in organic search, what’s the point? Is there even a chance then and shouldn’t the focus be on content rather than research? After all, it is wasted effort, isn’t it?
Misinformation that can cost you a lot and will also work to your disadvantage. Why we are so sure about this and what you do better with keyword research than those who do without it:
- Put yourself in the shoes of a customer and imagine you want a new outfit for the summer. He will directly enter “summer outfit” or a similar search term. If you have not integrated a single keyword for this term in your ranking, then you will not even be displayed in the search results.
- A keyword research can show you valuable niche keywords. Because there are indeed keywords that rank excellently and have hardly any competition. Such valuable keywords cannot be obtained without extensive research.
- If you also use keywords that are not relevant to your content due to a lack of research, Google will also penalize this behavior accordingly.
Conclusion
And did you already know some of these myths or did you gain new insights? In any case, it always makes sense to rationally scrutinize all changes and statements. Maybe a list of pros and cons will help from time to time. For example, is it not important for you to rank for the keywords that a hundred other competitors are also ranking for, or is it an advantage to be in the search results and possibly find keywords that do not have high competition? Is SEO really dead or do you realize that many mourn the ease of ranking high and gaining traffic and there is much more to SEO than keyword spam?
We can only advise you to keep up to date with SEO trends, changes etc. if you are interested in the topic. The truest thing about SEO, and the reason for much misinformation, is its dynamism. What is trendy today may be reprehensible tomorrow and it is quite possible that Google will suddenly penalize things or rate them particularly highly that were hardly relevant until recently.
Don’t be confused by dramatic headlines such as “SEO is dead” or similar. If you also want to know exactly, you can turn to an SEO agency you trust, because they still exist – and they don’t seem to be threatened with extinction. So most of the statements can’t be right anyway.
With this in mind, we hope that we have been able to help you and open up new perspectives and that search engine optimization continues to be fun for you and at least no longer seems so mysterious and mythical.