10 SEO misconceptions to clear and evolve in to SEO 2.0

But, honestly, it’s fair to have one(or a few). Because there are lot of changes happening, and algorithm updates that it’s not possible for everyone to stay updated and tuned on SEO. Many of us bloggers have certain SEO misconceptions just because we haven’t updated ourselves, aligning to Google.

Here are some SEO misconceptions that I found common with more than one person while engaging in conversations with them. Feel free to share your thoughts on them. I hope you will clear them and grow yourself up to SEO 2.0 and break out of the old-school SEO kid image.

1. 
   

   Meta tags and descriptions affect the SERPs

   
   Meta tags somehow is the most loved onsite “optimization” technique for bloggers, it’s one place that many use for stuffing in as many keywords as possible. As a matter of fact, meta tags (keywords and description) are no longer helping you impact your search engine rankings. If they are relevant to the content of the website, then it’s fine, but again it doesn’t help to add all sorts of possible keyword options into it.
   I’d say meta description is a good tool to increase your “clickability” from SERPs, so you might want to write a compelling and attractive copy there, but that’s about it.

2. 
   

   Keyword match on domain means a top rank

   
   In fact, while selecting domains, it’s a good idea to have a perfect keyword match, but that doesn’t mean that you have to go to the extent of selecting a domain like searchengineoptimizationservicesonlinefreeindia.com.
   It’s ugly and it doesn’t help you but may rather hurt you. Just go through any google SERPs and see if you can find a first page listing for any domain longer than max 20-ish characters. No, is it not? Therefore don’t over do this bit of selecting domains for perfect keyword match.
   Had keyword matching been only the metric for top ranks, flickr.com wouldn’t rank for “photo sharing” – would it?

3. 
   

   6% Keyword density means better Optimized pages

   
   One of the most popular formulas for SEO copywriting is the 6% keyword density on the keyword. Sadly, this isn’t very strong these days and is reduced to the level of one of thousands metrics available to Google to decide what the content on your website is all about. I’m not trying to say that you should completely forget about it. You certainly can follow a 6-7% keyword density if it makes sense to you and is normal but don’t go for it mathematically and if it makes a bad unreadable copy.
   Of course, Google has other methods (many of them) to find out what the content on your website is all about. So let’s say, it would work on a case to case basis.

4. 
   

   Don’t link to others or you’ll lose your page rank

   
   We’ve discussed this many a times already. Linking to other websites will not bring down your page rank, it only passes the link juice to them without reducing the original page rank. Your page rank is completely dependent on who links to you, and not whom you are linking to.

5. 
   

   Flash means bad SEO

   
   Initially, flash was a big monster SEOs had trouble with and we always recommended people to either avoid flash or go for HTML alternatives. But things have changed and fortunately now, search engines can spider links inside flash files embedded, and even crawl text in flash files. Just that you may have to guide them to it, if they don’t do it automatically, but clearly, flash is not a SEO spoiler anymore. We’ve learned to live with it.

6. 
   

   You have to wait weeks together to get indexed on Google

   
   Getting indexed on Google is not hard any more. Gone are the days when you had to submit your site to Google ad wait for weeks to see it appear on the SERPs. But now, all you need is 48 hours to get indexed on Google.

7. 
   

   Directory submissions will boost your ranks

   
   How I wish that directory submissions worked. No, no way! It’s an old school concept and does no impact whatsoever on Google SERPs. Yes, you can show the number of incoming links, but invalid, non authoritative links from directories are no good compared to relative, contextual links, fewer in number but from trusted sources on Google.

8. 
   

   Link building campaigns are cool

   
   Link building is good, real good. But I somehow can’t agree to the “campaign” part of it. It’s no exercise you ought to do, but something that should support the growth of your site. As a matter of fact, natural link building by “convincing” people to link to us using methods such as social media optimization and link baiting is the best way to do it. Short term link building and sudden backlinks should raise red flags on Google, so refrain from such “artificial” link based campaigns, rather focus more on conten development aiding to natural links.

9. 
   

   Two months quick fixes is all that you need

   
   One of the things that makes you lose your entire credibility on the search engines is trying to do something too quick and hastily. Even with all the metrics in place, it’s definitely not possible to gain consistent ranks on Google within a short span of time, so none of those quick fixes are going to work. Take your time, set your targets and work towards it in a healthy way.

10. 
    

    Traffic does not help in SEO

    
    Traffic is a great “catalyst” in gaining good reputation with Google. It may not directly help you with the SERPs but it sure helps you get into the good books of Google if you can consistently produce good traffic. Well, having good traffic just means that you have some potentially good content, is it not? And google knows it well, may be. So gaining traffic is great and an easy way to get some traction.

Essentially, it means that there is no formula for SEO available, that if applied will give you instant results. All the metrics have to be weighed and calculated to design the right strategy for each website.

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