15 SEO Myths you have to avoid to get a higher ranking in Google [2021]

 15 SEO Myths you have to avoid to get a higher ranking in Google [2021]

15 SEO Myths you have to avoid to get a higher ranking in Google

Every website, business, and blog is aiming for that one thing; To crawl up the pages of the SERP. For this, people largely depend on search engine optimization.

But when it comes to doing SEO, there are specific entities that you need to consider. The SEO game is a long-term play, and there are numerous SEO facts and SEO myths that one needs to be aware of in order to practice On Page SEO. 

According to BrightEdge, 63% of online experiences begin from search engines. 

What is SEO? 

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process involved in improving the quality of the website to drive better traffic. SEO drives unpaid traffic, and this unpaid traffic is generated from multiple kinds of searches like image search, video search, niche-specific search, image search, and more. 

Let's look at some SEO Myths you have to avoid to get a higher ranking in Google

1. SEO is a one time work 

SEO is never done with one-time efforts of setting up a page or optimizing it. 

Unlike many other digital marketing entities, SEO is a long process and needs updating from time to time. This is because the market and the competition keep changing continuously. The search engine results page changes its rules for ranking from time to time. Hence, it is never a one-time task to optimize a page, and it keeps changing now and then. 

According to Moz, Google changes its search algorithm nearly 500 to 600 times a year. 

2. Add keywords, and you're done with SEO

One of the major common SEO myths is that SEO is just the insertion of keywords. SEO is not just the insertion of keywords in the content but is so much more than that. Although it is an SEO fact that using traffic-driving keywords is the main entity of optimizing a website, there are other factors that contribute to SEO like the loading time of the page, interaction with the page, user experience, mobile-friendliness, and more. In fact, SEO is not just done for google; it is also for other search engines like Baidu, Bing, and Yahoo. So, SEO is so much more than just the insertion of keywords. 

In 2021 Google accounted for 70% of all global desktop search traffic, Baidu accounted for 13%, Bing: 12%, and Yahoo: 2%.

3. Search engine optimization improves your page ranking immediately 

Many believe that to make the website rank better and to increase its traffic, one needs to do few SEO activities, like SEO audit, and then wait for their website to rank immediately. SEO is never a one-time thing, as discussed, and it always takes some time for a website to rank after the page is optimized. On average, it is stated that a website takes somewhere between 90 days to 180 days to rank. But then again, how long a website takes to rank depends on the factors like the number of competitors, web page effectiveness, and more. 

4. Domain age plays a vital role in ranking

The longer a website has lingered around the internet, the better it ranks is an SEO myth. Maybe the factor that it takes some time for a website to rank after it is search engine optimized plays a role, and this could reflect like the age of the web domain plays a role. But in general, Google doesn't consider the age of the website a ranking factor, and the relevancy of the web content and the functioning of the website are what play a major role in ranking. 

Few new sites that are less than six months old take some time to rank, but this in itself doesn't mean that the domain age is a major SEO contributory factor. 

5. A search engine optimized page will surely rank after three months. 

It is not a thumb rule that a website takes 3 months, and the next day it completes 3 months, it ranks. A website that is search engine optimized will rank when the time is convenient as per few google ranking factors. This depends largely on the competitiveness of the website and the user-friendliness of the page so, if you are convinced or assured by someone that your website will rank 3 months after it is optimized, well, be aware that this is not how a SERP works. 

6. Core web vitals are not a factor for ranking 

Core web vitals are one of the important factors for ranking a website. They are involved in measuring the entities like loading page time, interactiveness, visual stability, and more. These factors in themselves improve the efficiency of a website and the user experience. Core web vitals are a relatively new entity, but it is not an SEO myth that core web vitals are one of the main SEO factors.

John Mueller states that Core web vitals is a ranking factor, and it's more than a tie-breaker, but it also doesn't replace relevancy.

7. LSI keywords are vital 

Latent semantic keywords are the relative keywords that are in correspondence with the primarily used keywords. Although it is an SEO fact that using LSI keywords improves the efficiency of the web page and their running, LSI in itself is not a major contributory SEO factor. Making use of the primary keywords in a web page that functions well and is user-friendly will improve the ranking and drive good traffic in itself. 

8. Backlinks are everything that a site needs 

Backlinks from reputed websites are a contributory factor in improving the organic traffic to the website. Backlinks from numerous spammy websites might not be of any value to the website because they are not going to drive any good traffic. Backlinks are just one contributory factor, and you can improve your ranking any way if you focus on producing quality content and improving the effectiveness of your website.

9. Domain authority is a ranking factor 

Domain authority is a metric in general which determines how likely a website is to rank. It is to be noted that domain authority in itself is not a ranking factor. 

It is an SEO myth that domain authority has any role at all to play in improving the ranking. Rather, it is a measure of the potential of a website to rank. 

10. Meta description plays an important role.  

Meta descriptions are the snippet that is present below the search result of a website. They give a pretext to the content in the website and are an attention-grabbing feature. While this may increase the click-through rate of the website, this in itself is not a major ranking factor. 

11. Longer the content better the ranking 

In a study conducted by serpIQ, it was found that the average word count of the page ranking #1 in the URL was 2,416. Although this might seem like the longer content has a better possibility of ranking, you need to know that it is an SEO myth. More than the length of content itself, it is the attribute that the content exhibits that increases the ranking. In lengthy content, there is a possibility for insertion of keywords many times. They are also more likely to yield backlinks, gain expertise that leads to conversion, and have higher engagement as well. 

Short content in the form of rich answers, knowledge graphs, and rich snippets has a good chance of ranking as well, and the attributes of the content play a major role in ranking rather than the length in itself. 

12. Guest blogging won't yield good results

Guest blogging is always an effective strategy to enhance your visibility among a different set of a niche audience. It is an SEO fact that guest blogging aids in improving the traffic of the website. Guest blogging that is rich in content with good flow will increase visibility and create credibility for your page. Thereby, you can yield better traffic. Guest blogging also creates backlinks on authentic websites, and this in itself is an effective way to do SEO for your website.

13. Long-tail keywords are indispensable

The fact about long-tail keywords is that it has less competition, but then again, it has lower search volumes. Using long-tail keywords can generate a niche-specific target to reach, but they are not the primary SEO strategy. In using long-tail keywords, you need to understand that it takes a comparatively long time for your website to drive traffic and rank higher. It is an SEO myth that long-tail keywords play a major role in ranking. 

14. Post new content frequently

It is an SEO myth that Google demands content, and you need to be consistent in producing content to rank higher. Posting content regularly can keep your audience hooked to your website as they keep coming back for content in a way that garners a set of consistent traffic to your website here is how to write an SEO-driven guest blog posts. Other than that, it is not a Google ranking factor that you need to post consistently. Repurposing old content can also be an effective way to keep your ranking higher. 

15. Voice Search is not SEO 

Voice search options are gradually witnessing a spike in usage and are soon to be an important part of SEO for websites. It is an SEO myth that voice search is not related to SEO. Rather it is an SEO fact that voice search optimization contributes to the ranking of your website. Voice search based SEO needs to be carried out by making use of conversational keywords. When users make use of voice search, they are more likely to use conversational phrases, and this is the key to rank by making use of conversational keywords. 

According to Perficient, 55% of users make use of smartphones to do voice searches.

Conclusion:-

SEO will never go off and organic traffic will always be an important marketing strategy that websites concentrate on. It will continue to evolve as the trends of the internet and google's ranking factors keep changing. SEO is more of a continuous learning process that makes use of diverse entities rather than just one thing. We hope the above blog gave you an idea about the various SEO myths and actual SEO facts. If you want to learn more, then enroll in online digital marketing courses that will help you learn in-depth about SEO and more entities. 

If you have any queries or suggestions to add on, let us know in the comments below. 

Author Bio

Karthik

Karthik is a Digital Marketing Head at EchoVME Digital. He heads the development team, SEO team at echoVME, and a trainer at Digital Scholar. He has been working in the development field for over a decade and is the go-to person for any SEO and tech-related queries.