With search engine listings generating about 64 percent of web traffic, it’s evident that search engine optimization (SEO) is key to successful online marketing. You must develop and execute a robust SEO strategy to drive adequate traffic to your site. Unfortunately, there are tons of misconceptions about SEO out there that may keep you from developing an effective search engine strategy. That’s why this article will dispel some of the biggest misconceptions of SEO in 2020 to help you come up with a strong search engine strategy.
1. High-Quantity Backlinks Translate to Better Results
Some business owners think that their site will gain a high level of visibility if they obtain more backlinks. While this could be true to some extent, there are several other more crucial factors. The quality of backlinks is definitely more crucial than quantity. Just one link to your website from a reputable and highly-ranked website could trigger a dramatic increase in your search engine rankings. But a high quantity of backlinks from poor quality, lowly-ranked sites could result in a drastic drop in your rankings. So it’s important to put effective backlinking strategies in place.
2. Keyword Density is an Important Ranking Factor
Keyword research and execution has been a fundamental part of SEO. Content creators used to stuff their content with keywords to raise the likelihood of their blog post ranking highly on search engine result pages (SERPs) for that specific keyword phrase. But Google has become smarter today and that trick doesn’t work anymore. Leveraging Google BERT and state-of-the-art machine learning, the search engine can determine the context of a topic, regardless of the keyword density. Rather than stuffing your web page with keywords, you should concentrate on high-quality and relevant information that aligns with the searcher’s intention. As an SEO expert would say, quality content with properly integrated keywords or keyword phrases is crucial when you’re doing SEO for big brands.
3. SEO is a Time-Limited Process
SEO is an ongoing process. It’s not an activity you perform for a short duration and then you’re done. You must keep on adding new, quality links to your website at a relatively rapid pace. That way, your link velocity will continue growing and your ranking will get better. Publishing fresh content continuously is another great way to improve your ranking.
Also, your competitors are constantly sharpening their SEO strategy. So if you stop working on yours, they’ll outrank you in no time.
4. Titles and Content Should Feature Matching Keywords or Keyword Phrases
This rule doesn’t work anymore. Nowadays if you depend on technical SEO entirely you’ll see a significant decrease in your search engine ranking. So if you want to realize a long-term, sustainable improvement in ranking, you should continuously publish clear, valuable information about a topic. You should also ensure your content is understandable.
5. META Description is a Crucial Aspect of Ranking
It’s a misconception that META Description is an important aspect of ranking. Search engines don’t rely on keyword tags in META to rank your site. This description is useful only for site visitors. For this reason, you should make your META Description informative and captivating to capture the attention of your target audience.
6. You Can Outwit the Algorithm
“The thought that you can outwit the algorithm is one of the biggest SEO misconceptions.” – say experts from Digital Marketing Agency Tactica. Instead of tricking the algorithm into believing you’re the correct result when you’re definitely not, try to find out what Google wants to accomplish. Google wants content that adequately answers users’ questions to be on the first page of SERPs. Now that you know what Google wants, you can work with it to demonstrate that you have a page of content, which is the right result for the user’s search. Once you do that, you’ll always see an improvement in ranking even when Google changes the algorithm. You’ll also no longer have to worry about the next algorithm change.
Final Thoughts
SEO misconceptions in the online marketing landscape have prevented many marketers from developing successful search engine strategies. They have and continue to waste time and their hard-earned money pursuing needless things at the expense of meaningful things. Don’t fall into that trap. Instead, use the insights in this guide to dispel some of the biggest SEO misconceptions and concentrate on things that will generate impeccable results.
