SEO rubbish myths

[thebookiesoffers]

seen a few comments on here recently that are basically rubbish when talking about SEO and rankings so I thought a thread on SEO myths might help people out a bit. I'll start by adding a few myths I see getting chucked around the internet in general and see how the thread gets on.

1- You need to submit your sites to the search engines
2- Blog commenting and for forum posting will really improve rankings
3- You need a the keyword in your domain to rank for competitive phrases
4- Google toolbar PR thing is important

I'll add some more myself it turns into a decent thread. get adding your myths folks

[xecutable]

5. Myth: Duplicate content penalty by Google (Truth: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogsp...t-penalty.html)

This is perhaps one of the biggest.

[casdirs]

6. Myth - There is no limit to how many links you can build each day

I can say for sure that this is rubbish lol

[elgoog]

7. Myth - Meta description counts for ranking in serps

[lots0]

#8
Myth - Content is King.

[TheGooner]

#9 Myth - that #8 Myth is a myth ...

(ooops - I think I've confused myself now ...)


What I mean is ... Content is ALL that we've ever bothered about EVER ... never worred about PR, SEO subscriptions, chasing links, blah, blah ...
And I'll stake our sites turnover / profits against that of most "so-called" SEO exponents as a measure that CONTENT IS KING - and very valuable.

[thebookiesoffers]

#9 Myth - that #8 Myth is a myth ...

(ooops - I think I've confused myself now ...)


What I mean is ... Content is ALL that we've ever bothered about EVER ... never worred about PR, SEO subscriptions, chasing links, blah, blah ...
And I'll stake our sites turnover / profits against that of most "so-called" SEO exponents as a measure that CONTENT IS KING - and very valuable.

im with you on that, good content is essential

[universal4]

Off-topic myth....

Gooner never confuses me even when he confuses himself.

On-topic myth.....

Build it and they will come.....the simple fact that you have a website means you will get lots of visitors and make a ton of cash....
(I didn't give it a number cause it's probably not good enough for one)

Rick
Universal4

[ocreditor]

On-topic myth.....

Build it and they will come.....the simple fact that you have a website means you will get lots of visitors and make a ton of cash....
(I didn't give it a number cause it's probably not good enough for one)

Rick
Universal4

Yeah I think I've heard that one somewhere before, you mean it's not true?!!

[must]

#10 meta keywords are used by search engines (they don't even bother to read the meta)

#11 keyword density must be $whatever (keyword density - simply put - doesn't exist)

[Jennytaketheworld]

Hey guys

Is it true that " #10 meta keywords are used by search engines (they don't even bother to read the meta)" ??

[xecutable]

Hey guys

Is it true that " #10 meta keywords are used by search engines (they don't even bother to read the meta)" ??

Nope, it's just that Google doest use the meta keywords. The rest of the search engines still do. However for most people when they hear 'search engine' they automatically associate it with Google.

[must]

Nope, it's just that Google doest use the meta keywords. The rest of the search engines still do. However for most people when they hear 'search engine' they automatically associate it with Google.

according to my google analytics, search engine IS google for about 300 websites
you think if i start putting meta keywords in my page i'll start getting traffic from bing too? :P

[xecutable]

according to my google analytics, search engine IS google for about 300 websites
you think if i start putting meta keywords in my page i'll start getting traffic from bing too? :P

Nope simply because I put meta keywords in all of my articles, and I get 2-3 visits per day from bing. If 1% of the searchers use bing, it just can't be otherwise.

[must]

Nope simply because I put meta keywords in all of my articles, and I get 2-3 visits per day from bing. If 1% of the searchers use bing, it just can't be otherwise.

i don't put meta keywords anywhere, and i generally rank much better on bing than google. so, it just can't be because of the meta keyword.
and even if i rank better on bing, i still get much much much more traffic from google.
yes, sure 2-3 visits more are better than 2-3 visits less. but 2-3 visits can come from any search engine in the world, so i should optimize my websites for all of them. but seriously, does anybody optimize - say - for Ask?

on the other hand, what my meta keywords say to Google? the fact they don't use meta keywords for ranking purpose doesn't mean they totally ignore them. they could (i can't know if they do it or not...) use it just to see for which keywords i want to rank... and this is something i may want to avoid.

however, to go back in topic:
Google ignores the meta keyword;
Bing doesn't.

You want to use it? Feel free, but I suggest to read this first: http://searchengineland.com/the-meta...d-use-it-96874

[thebookiesoffers]

here's a good read. yes, bing does use the keyword meta, will it improve rankings in bing? well as they have a 1000 ranking signals, i doubt it very much

http://www.seroundtable.com/poll-met...rds-13914.html

[lots0]

#9 Myth - that #8 Myth is a myth ...

(ooops - I think I've confused myself now ...)


What I mean is ... Content is ALL that we've ever bothered about EVER ... never worred about PR, SEO subscriptions, chasing links, blah, blah ...
And I'll stake our sites turnover / profits against that of most "so-called" SEO exponents as a measure that CONTENT IS KING - and very valuable.

If content were truly king (we are ONLY talking about ranking in the SERP here, not about what constitutes a 'quality site').
Then...

Why do so many sites with little or no content rank in the top 10 for their targeted keywords?

Why do sites show up in the top ten of the SERP for key words that do NOT appear in the page content?

Simple answer... Because content is NOT King.

[Peter Willis]

7. Myth - Meta description counts for ranking in serps

This isn't a myth in any way. They can be important to your rankings... not only from a simple keyword perspective, but also for your click-throughs.

[freebetsfreetips]

Interesting thread but it's difficult to dispell myths without hard facts or at least very strong arguments. There doesn't seem to be that much of either here. I think Gooner's point and that of most slow and steady white hat people is that if you build a good (popular) site people will automatically link to it, visit it and stay on it, all of which will help a lot with SEO.

[lots0]

Not disputing the fact that "good" sites (sites with quality content) will get linked too and will rank, after a fashion.

I have no dispute at all with what thegooner said and if the thread was about "How to build a quality site", he would be right on.
But this thread was about SEO MYTHS, not about how building your site over time with quality content will gain ranking in the SERP.

And it is a MYTH that content is king... Links are king.. always have been and until the search engines do completely away with links as the KEY measure for ranking, they will continue to be.

So yes, it is a MYTH that content is King. Content is important, no doubt. But as far as SEO goes, content takes 2nd place to LINKS.

As soon as a page can rank #1 on page one with ONLY the on page content for ANY competitive search phrase... then I will agree Content is King of SEO... However till then... LINKS are the KING of SEO.


added//
I mean come on... you build a quality site... then you build or wait for links, so your site can rank in the SERP and people will actually see it.
If content were king, then you wouldn't need to link build to get ranking/visitors, now would you?

If the best quality site in the world has no links to it... then no one would see it....ever.

I have more arguments.. but I think I made my point.