Top 25 commonly believed SEO myths

I list them out here, so that you can break out and clear them off, if at all you believed them. As DSB readers, I’m sure you know most of them already. Hope it helps.

1. Using Robots.txt is the safest way to keep a page/site from being crawled.

Actually not. Even if you blocked a page through the “disallow” tag on robots.txt, Google might still crawl it following an external incoming link. The safest way to block out a page from being crawled 100% is to add a password secure login to that page. Bots won’t get past it.

2. The meta description displayed on the SERPs is always the few lines of text you specify.

No. Google’s algorithm has updated lately which will pick up matching lines/phrases from the page content to the search query and display selective parts of the content on the SERPs snippets. Particularly relevant for longer search queries.

3. Changing the crawl rate settings in Webmasters tools console will change the Google crawl rate once and for all.

Apparently not. Google will also check your posting/publishing frequency and set an appropriate crawling frequency based on it, despite your manual setting.

4. Adding a plugin like the AllinOneSEO puts your blog into auto SEO mode.

I wish if it did. In fact, a plugin will take care of the most important parts, but sometimes they do harm more than good. Like the auto generate meta description feature of All in One SEO, can create more duplicate entries in certain themes, if you set it to auto generate. Its always best to do it all manually, while leaving certain parts for the plugins.

5. Following a 4% Keyword density will help in optimizing the content.

Search Engines are clever enough to detect any particular patterns in the site content. While its best not to follow any predictable pattern, using them cleverly can give you results. Keyword Density is no longer a metric SE’s count, so get over it. Rather focus o relevancy factor.

6. Linking to authority websites will help your reputation.

Well, if it did, then I guess everyone would start doing the same and it would not make any difference. While linking to authority websites is a healthy habit, they don’t give you any added advantage.

7. A higher Page Rank means better chances of ranking.

Repeated this several times already. Page Rank has no direct association with your SERPs ranks, however getting a higher Page Rank means a lot of quality work and authority.

8. Adding H1 tags to keywords directly help in SEO.

Header tags used in the content definitely supports SEO, but they are no stand alone factors that will directly give you any push.

9. Submitting to search engines is the only way to get indexed.

No. Getting a relevant link from other sites is the better way to get indexed.

10. A flash page means bad SEO.

Not at all. Using flash will definitely give you less options for SEO compared to a content rich page, but that doesn’t mean bad SEO. You can focus on other SEO factors and get equally good if not better results.

11. Adding a WordPress blog will automatically fix your site’s SEO.

WordPress is a great tool. But just adding one to your site/replacing with it will not give you any edge. You have to use it wisely to get the results.

12. The more the internal links the better.

Technically true, but its not just about the numbers. You have to use the proper anchor texts and use relevant link placement to get the maximum benefits.

13. Dynamic URLs are bad for the site.

Not any more. Trimming them to a much understandable format is better and saves a lot of time, however the most commonly used and avoidable parameters are “known” to Google and there is no extra effort required to convert them to an SEO friendly format, especially when the content is optimized and SE friendly.

14. Sitelinks appear only for websites who have high PR.

Sitelinks are auto generated for websites with high traffic. There is nothing you can do control them except to block some of the links from appearing using WebMaster tools.

15. Adding keywords to meta tags gives you a direct push on the SERPs.

Meta Keywords help you in getting more clicks from the SERPs, by serving more like and ad copy. Stuffing them with keywords won’t help you at all. They have to be relevant, descriptive and attractive.

16. Using a meta nofollow header tag on the page will “block” the search engines from crawling the page.

No. The page could still be crawled if the bots follow an external link to that page. Nofollow meta tag is not the surest way of keeping the bots away.

17. Adding Canonical URL tag to a page will stop the bots from scanning that page.

Again, bots will scan the page first as they land on them. But they will ultimately “forward” all the queries to the original URL. There are chances of Google looking into the landed page however.

18. A deep directory structure is bad for SEO.

Not always. Deep directories are fine as long as they are well linked and connected. An endless loop of deep directory is not good however.

19. All external links should be nofollowed to protect your page rank.

Page Rank is determined based on who links to you and not always about whom you link to. There’s nothing to “preserve”.

20. Adding more keywords to the page title will always help you in seo.

It helps you make a spam of your site not SEO. In very less competitive spaces, it may give some immediate results, but you won’t see them sustain.

21. Bolding out keywords on the content helps.

Not always. Bolding out important phrases/words using strong tags are okay as long as they are done in a non-spammy way. It doesn’t mean that every time you add them, there is a chance of search engines picking them up.

22. SEO is a one month process. Do it and get it done !

SEO is not a quick fix. It requires regular check ups and updates. Nothing can be achieved in short term.

23. Nofollow incoming links from other sites are no good.

Technically, nofollow links are not followed. But Google has its own signals to find out whether a nofollow links from a high authority site is relevant or not. So nofollow from high authority sites are always good, at least they’ll fetch you some extra links from other sites. So I can’t say that they are useless.

24. Search Engine Positions are guaranteed.

As you might already know there is never a guarantee. But quality SEO can always assure you good results.

25. If you did all the ten things for SEO, there is no beating you and you’ll remain on the top forever.

Wish if it did. But if the nine others did extremely well as you, you’d again fall back. So its a continuous struggle and there is nothing permanent. So, what are the SEO myths that you think is popular among others. Would you like to add your own ?

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