SEO, which stands for search engine optimization, can be difficult to
understand if you are not familiar with it. Unfortunately many things you
read about SEO on the internet are not always true. There are a lot of myths
and misconceptions floating around the net and they can sometimes be hard to
confirm or debunk because of the ever changing techniques and the
complexities of the search engines.
Some of the most common SEO myths are listed below and with it, the
information to expose the truth so you can concentrate on real SEO methods
to improve your site rankings and increase your traffic.
1. The More Reciprocal Links You Have on Your Site, the Better Your Ranking.
Have you ever been to site that is nothing but a long list of links? These
sites are called link farms or FFA (Free for All links) and they do nothing
for your site's ranking. They are usually just filled with spam and can hurt
your rankings because they are probably in violation of Google's Webmaster
Guidelines which you can find on the Google site.
You also do not want to link to sites that are not relevant to your site.
For example: if you own a site that sells jewelry, don't link to sites about
home repair or other topics that don't relate to your site. You want to find
quality sites that can complement yours such as fashion sites, make-up
sites, etc. So, keep exchanging links but be selective and choose only
quality, content-filled sites that complement your site.
2. You Need to Manually Submit Your Site to the Search Engines.
Submitting your website pages to the search engines will not boost your
rankings, or help your site get indexed any faster. The search engines find
sites by a process called web crawling done by spiders or bots. It has
little to do with you filling out those long forms and submitting to the
search engines. What will get you indexed faster is a quality site with
relevant links, good content and the wise use of keywords.
3. Cramming Your Site Full of Keywords Means a Higher Ranking.
Have you ever seen a site that repeated the same words over so many times,
it barely makes sense anymore? This is called keyword stuffing.
Unfortunately, many people believe the more keywords you can stuff into your
site, the better. This is sometimes done to such extremes that the content
sounds ridiculous and unprofessional, thus defeating the purpose of the
keywords.
For example: Jewelry 'n More has beautiful diamond rings that don't cost as
much as most diamond rings because our diamond rings are more affordable
than other diamond rings. If you are looking for diamond rings, visit our
site for diamond rings because we have more diamond rings at cheaper prices
than any other diamond rings.
This is really an extreme example but this type of thing does happen. The
best way to use keywords is to use different combinations of relevant
keywords throughout your site's content. There is no set number of keywords
that will magically make your site appear in the number one position so do
not over stuff to the point of redundancy. Your web copy should be natural,
professional and informative.
4. Duplicate Content Can Get You Banned.
Fortunately this is not true. Using duplicate content on your site can cause
problems if it is done in a "spammy" or exaggerated way. If you mix the
duplicate content with other quality and relevant content, your site will
stand a better chance of a higher ranking. What happens when duplicate
content is found by the search engines? Well, once the duplicate content is
discovered, the search engine will base their decision (which page to add to
the search results) on how long the site has been active, the page rank, the
amount of incoming links and other qualifying aspects of the site. Duplicate
content is a part of the internet (as we have all seen) and there is no
penalty for it.
Many people also believe that using reprint articles on their site will
bring them a penalty. This is not so. While you don't want ALL your site's
content to be duplicates, using quality informative articles on your site
(that happen to be published elsewhere) is not a problem for the search
engines.
5. Higher Page Rank Means Higher Search Engine Ranking.
Many people mistakenly believe that if you have a high page rank, you will
also have a high ranking in the search engines. This is not so. Page rank is
not as important as most people believe. The search engines use other
factors to determine your ranking. You need to have a high quality site with
functionality, relevance, a good linking system, good information,
user-friendliness and purpose. Do not rely on your page rank to raise your
ranking in the search engines.
I hope this information will help you in producing a more search engine
friendly site. You can do it yourself but be sure to learn the facts and
find out which SEO myths are true and which ones are not.
my motto is "Keep it simple" and "don't leave anything for tomorrow that can
be done today."
If you have any questions or comments please contact me.
Regards Gerald
Website: http://www.webcraft.ws
E-mail: gerald@webcraft.ws
Twitter: WebcraftGuru
Facebook: Webcraft Guru
I'm protected by SpamBrave
http://www.spambrave.com/
Comments