Over the past few decades, SEO has evolved and many actions or techniques taken today are no longer effective due to updates such as Google Panda or Google Penguin. As a result, there are some SEO methods that are no longer effective and can even be detrimental. Join us to learn about 10 myths about search engine optimization SEO in the following article.
8 myths about search engine optimization (SEO)
1. The more repetitions of the main keywords, the better
This statement may have been true a few years ago, but is no longer relevant now as user experience on the site becomes increasingly important and texts that repeat certain terms over and over again don’t. create an enjoyable experience. It is for this reason that keywords do not need to be literally repeated in the content of the pages. The goal is to inform users that they are entering the site in coherent language.
2. The homepage must have a lot of content
We are sure that more than once you have visited a website with so much content that you had to leave because you did not know where to start reading or browsing. The homepage is the entrance to a company, is the business card, and must clearly reflect the company’s history, activities, philosophy, and values, as well as where they are and what they are supposed to do. A corporate website won’t have the same content in your home as an online store, so the content must be appropriate for our operations, never forget to indicate who you are and what you have. What can you do for your visitors? Your home is the hook to get your customers.
3. Google penalizes duplicate content
Search engines don’t like people who plagiarize and copy content on their websites from other sites. It is very often the case that product descriptions in online stores are identical on multiple pages. However, if you have duplicate content on your site, in the previous case you sell the same product in different sizes and you have a product tag by size, in this case, Google won’t penalize you, but if you make your content more concise and specific, you can be appreciated by Google. Therefore, search engines do not penalize all duplicate content, if it is not plagiarized and that does not contribute value.
4. Local SEO doesn’t matter anymore
This is one of the most common mistakes made about search engine optimization (SEO). Optimizing for local search will help you not only be located but also let people near you find you and buy from you. This works great with restaurants, for example, if you’re visiting a city and don’t know where to eat, looking at Google you can find the nearest restaurants and book a table. This is very positive for the restaurant and for any other local business. To optimize your business, you need to create and verify a page in Google My Business, which will allow you to maximize your search traffic.
5. H1 is the most important element of the page
This statement is widespread, however, search engines are becoming smarter and understanding that H1s are heading tags to define the style of the page. So whatever heading you use, H1, H2, H3… What really matters is that you structure your content coherently and present the most important concepts at the top and bottom of the page.
6. Images don’t need to be optimized
Search engines don’t know the contents of the image, so it’s important to provide an alternative text for each image and a filename indicating the content of the image. This way, you can give Google the ability to know what the image is about. We recommend that the image be in JPG format and be as small in weight as possible.
7. User experience doesn’t matter
One of the most recent changes to Google’s algorithm is to incorporate user experience as a key factor in locating Web pages. Aspects to take into account in the user experience are page load time, properly aligned text, optimal font size to facilitate readability, scrolling the user performs, and speed rehabilitation. All of these factors let Google know if the experience on a page is good and if it matches what users are really looking for.
8. Meta keywords are very important
The keywords in the meta tag are no longer so important and Google doesn’t consider them. Search engines have evolved and don’t need to read meta keywords to know what a website is all about. So focus your time on what really matters in site positioning.