The 5 Most Common SEO Myths Debunked

Focus your attention to where it really needs to go.

Digital marketing is constantly changing and evolving. Trends are hot one minute and cold the next. When people forget that particular trends went cold but continue to practice them like they’re hot, you end up with SEO myths.

So, let’s take a minute to debunk five of the most common SEO myths. That way, you’re not putting time into something that’s not worth the effort, and you’re focusing your attention where it really needs to go. 

Myth: Links outweigh content. 

Some say that links are the most important factor in SEO. That’s not true.

Links fuel your ranking power. They also validate and add trustworthiness to your site, but only if they’re reputable and relevant to your page. You need to consider what happens when that traffic gets to your site. What if you’ve put all your effort into link building, like some experts suggest, but not much into creating quality content? Users bounce.

It’s a classic case of quality over quantity, and it applies to both backlinks and content. Fewer quality links will generate more traffic than an abundance of mediocre ones, and quality content that engages visitors will keep them there. 

Myth: Mobile optimization isn’t that important.

Google isn’t interested in pages that aren’t optimized for mobile. It’s that simple. According to Pew Research, 81 percent of Americans own smartphones as of 2019. A good portion of them reach for their mobile devices first thing in the morning. What do you think they’re doing as they groggily roll over and reach for their phone?

I’m guessing they’re not calling their grandmothers. They’re online, and we know where they’re going to end up eventually. Google. What happens if you’re not optimized for mobile? Nothing, and that’s the problem.

Your site won’t come up in local search, you won’t get traffic, and you certainly won’t get business unless your site is optimized for mobile.

Myth: Ranking should be your No. 1 goal.

We know people prefer the first three listings on page one of Google, and nobody’s paying attention to page four results. But at the end of the day, there are just other things to consider. 

As of September 2019, Smart Insights reported that 34.85 percent of desktop searches and 65.10 percent of mobile searches don’t end with a click. According to RadiumOne, in 2016, 84 percent of social sharing happened via dark social channels such as email and text as opposed to public social channels such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Read more: www.inc.com