SEO misconceptions and misconceptions are plentiful in the digital marketing world.

Although a little reality may be buried in some of these misunderstandings, it’s finest to understand the subtleties.

Here’s a more detailed look at seven SEO misconceptions.

Misconception 1: Focus on quality content and topics, not keywords

Of course you need to have quality material.

Your quality content may not rank well on Google. Other sites– not yours– will get traffic for pertinent keywords. Determine what key phrases you can rank for instead of just presuming your best material will land you the leading spots. I explore the worth of keywords and rankings in this CMI post: 2019 SEO Keywords and Google: What remains in Your Poker Hand?

Myth 2: Google will delist your website for keyword stuffing

I’m persuaded Google has actually caught some nasty marketers, but it’s tough to state Google will delete you from its databases since of keyword stuffing. Should you overuse keywords without worry? I would not risk it. Keyword stuffing is subjective. If you’re offering a great user experience, then do not fret.

If you offer a good user experience, don’t fret keyword stuffing, states @mikeonlinecoach by means of @cmicontent. #SEO Click To Tweet

Is Google going to eliminate Mayo Clinic for pointing out “mitral valve” 63 times amongst 1,945 words in this instructional short article?

After all, Google does not seem to have a problem with this payday advance site The web page ranks No. 1 for “payday advance” with 33,000 regular monthly searches on Google.

A core part of the home page includes this set of internal links. Is it a set of beneficial topics or keyword stuffing?

If you stumble upon questionable practices, you can submit a Google spam report

See questionable keyword packing practices? Submit @Google spam report, says @mikeonlinecoach through @cmicontent. #SEO Click To Tweet

Myth 3: Google punishes duplicate content

It’s not always easy to determine any replicate content charge. I wouldn’t fret about some repeated text on your site, especially if you have hundreds of pages.

Replicate content is a bigger issue with e-commerce websites that have a hard time to avoid the very same item descriptions on many sites. One treatment is to create distinct descriptions and other details on strategic pages. E-commerce websites can likewise deal with their domain authority by attracting more quality backlinks. Overall domain authority can improve rankings.

Moz provides a domain authority rating in between one and100 I presume that the Remediation XP site (see screenshots listed below) ranks poorly for numerous keywords primarily because its domain authority is one, not since of the repetitive material.

The website has a few good rankings. If Google hates replicate content, why does it reward the website with a No. 5 ranking for “fire damage remediation plano tx” with 70 month-to-month searches? I’m not a fan of this replicate content that includes lots of city pages. My point is that Google does not constantly come down hard on sites. Have a look for yourself.

Take A Look At this extensive Moz article about how to deal with replicate content.

Myth 4: Positioning keywords in the footer will enhance your rankings

Usually speaking, sticking a few keywords in the footer might not enhance rankings. I’ve seen a couple of cases where rankings do improve, especially if the footer just had a copyright date before brand-new text was included.

Online marketers often use keywords in a couple of brief sentences or simply put headlines under a section called popular short articles. I do not think these methods work as well as they did several years back.

Online search engine just don’t worth keyword-based text or links as much when they’re amongst extremely recurring site components like main navigation or other descriptive text in footers. Internal links can influence rankings, but that’s mostly true when the links remain in the core material, not just a link in the footer on every page of a site that has possibly 1,000 or 30,000 pages.

Internal links can affect rankings, but that’s primarily real when the links are in the core #content, says @mikeonlinecoach by means of @cmicontent. #SEO Click To Tweet

On any offered website, a footer may be useful for visitors. You have many choices for what to include. I like this collection from Andy Crestodina: Site Footer Design Finest Practices: 27 Things to Put at the Bottom

Misconception 5: You must limit SEO page titles to 60 characters

The style of Google search engine results pages ( SERPs) determines how much of the page title will appear. Google doesn’t divulge the number of characters it thinks about when gathering page title details.

Some marketers create short page titles due to the fact that they don’t desire any words cut from the SERPs. At times, I ‘d much rather gain some extra rankings and traffic even if all of the words aren’t noticeable.

For example, ThomasNet ranks well for “CNC equipment” (No. 6 on Google), however “devices” didn’t make the cut with the search results page with the page title: CNC Machining Definition, Processes, Components, & Devices.

Myth 6: Google opposes exact match domain names

The myth stems from a modification Google made in 2012 to punish a little portion of domains that plainly went overboard with domain keywords.

Keyword-rich domain may not assist as much as they did. I believe it still assists to include one or more keywords in a domain. Nobody can persuade me that Google has an issue with these domains:

• Hotels.com (one efficient keyword)
• Trekbikes.com (effective brand keyword and a beneficial word about product types)
• Carinsurance.com (Possibly those keywords help it rank No. 1 for “automobile insurance estimator” with 8,100 searches.)

Keyword-rich domain names might not assist in #SEO as much as they did, says @mikeonlinecoach via @cmicontent. Click To Tweet

Myth 7: SEO is a one-time occasion

It’s super simple for online marketers to declare they have actually done everything to enhance a site page They craft SEO page titles, create smart content headers, name images after keywords, etc. Their method can be shortsighted.

To get the finest ranking, an online marketer needs to revisit crucial ranking elements a number of times, consisting of word mixes in those page titles and headlines.

BettyCrocker.com needs to dedicate some additional time to pages like chicken dishes It doesn’t rank too well for lots of keyword phrases, however it has a No. 28 ranking for “chicken dishes” with 450,000 monthly searches.

Sadly, the SEO page title isn’t cutting it: Chicken Recipes– Newest and Best Chicken Recipes– BettyCrocker.com.

Possibly the title might work much better if it was simply: Chicken Recipes.

When I spoke at Content Marketing World in September, the workshop attendees weren’t passionate about utilizing “Chicken Recipes” as the only words in the page title. A few of them wanted to spice it up and test “Finest Chicken Recipes” as the page title.

Unfortunately, that exact same page ranks just No. 33 for “finest chicken dishes” with 14,800 monthly searches. I ‘d rather play with “Chicken Recipes” with almost a half-million searches. Natural traffic would enhance even if the ranking only reached No. 11.

What’s the takeaway? Attempt different techniques and see what carries out the very best. Land the leading ranking and after that perhaps include another word.

Conquer the SEO mistaken beliefs

If you’re in the trenches of SEO, dedicate your time to matching material with keywords that can support your goals.

What SEO misconceptions do you think trigger too much grief? What SEO misconceptions do you come across?

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Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute