The Truths & Myths of SEO

it’s important not to get caught up with SEO hearsay

4 SEO Myths we get quizzed on

We’d all like our company website to be top of Google. That’s why SEO or Search Engine Optimisation is an obvious place to start.

 As most of us use Google, almost 90% searches are on Google, it’s obvious that we must prioritise SEO on the Google search engine. Incidentally Bing and Yahoo combined, only account for 10% searches and yell.com under 1%.

Because Google change the rules, as they do updates sometimes several a year, we need to take note. Website SEO rules 3-4 years ago, could quite possibly be irrelevant to your website today!

1. “Link Building is better than content” MYTH!

This is simply not the case now, Googlebots are mainly looking for keywords as opposed to links, making link building no where near as important as it once was. Although citations and relevant directory listings are. Indiscriminate automated link building to 100’s irrelevant directories are out.

2. “I can get on Google faster if I trick it” MYTH!

This should not be done under any circumstances. If you trick Google, they will find out and can easily stop you showing on their search engine for as long as they want.

3. “I can take my time writing up content” MYTH

Writing content is the most important component of SEO on your website. Always follow the correct procedure when creating your content and be sure you don’t leave it for too long as the Googlebot will rank you on the content it crawls. 

4. “The more keywords I have, the better” MYTH

This is false, Google will only use the first 5-6 words in your meta tags, all the other keywords will be wasted. But even more important are the keywords used within the content on your website. They must be relevant and accompanied by titles and rich content.

We know you haven’t got much time, so we’ll be brief, here’s four good practices, when applying SEO to your website.

1. Content REALLY is key. TRUE

When writing your website, it is important that you understand the rules, so here’s a few pointers. The original revision of this article read ‘Google will only pick up the first 250-300 words on your page’. Incorrect, as this recent 2017 article discovers What’s the best word count? 

– Big is beautiful but there are some caveats. 
– Put important information at the top of your page, to help Google bots find your website.
– Remember content is key. 

2. Blogs are a good idea. TRUE

A Blog can really push your website ranking on Google – write relevant blog posts and you’ll get some attention in no time at all. Remember that Google can rank your blog as well as your website – an affordable way of marketing, if you can spare the time doing it.

3. On Page SEO. TRUE

This may seem obvious, but SEO should be a key part of your marketing campaign. Always build-in SEO on new web pages.

4. Social Media is worth doing. TRUE

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc, can be a key part of off-page SEO, especially if you make weekly or daily posts. Once you’ve linked in your social media pages with your website, your website presence can increase substantially.

Check HML Blog for more on Search Marketing

Final thoughts

When it comes to good SEO practice, it’s important not to get caught up with SEO hearsay. Google is the top search engine by far, so ensure you have good ongoing Google SEO that keeps your website refreshed, relevant and responsive. Use free local directories sparingly and when relevant. Don’t be fooled into thinking directories like yell.com? can replace your Google listing, at best they help support your Google ranking.

Is your website SEO friendly?

It helps if your Web Editor for updating your website is flexible so you can do everything you need to SEO-wise. Here’s some pointers and what to look out for –

1. Content and tags can all be added and changed as your marketing strategy develops.
2. Allows plug-ins for all the different social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin and allows these feeds on your website.
3. Images can easily be added/removed and even edited whenever you want, using on-line image editor such as “PicMonkey”.
4. Ensure your website and editor is Mobile compatible, 30% users now using this media daily -and it’s rapidly growing.

Here at HML, we use the latest generation of web technology and our copy-writing services, to ensure websites have on page SEO built in and are mobile compatible. Blogs are a key part to SEO which is why we allow you to bolt-on your existing Blog or create a new one!
You’re going to need a SEO friendly website editor