Myths of SEO - what really works?

(and what to ignore and avoid)

The truth of the matter is that the search engine marketing industry is peppered with myths, propaganda and exaggerations.

All too often, search engine marketers blend popular sales myths with facts just to make a transaction. They put a short-term gain, and the client’s subsequent loss, before a long-term business partnership that is beneficial to both parties.

What’s more, many non-professional search engine marketers rely on their own know-how rather than tried and tested results.

In these pages, I will tell you the truth that you can trust about search engine optimisation (SEO). I will show you the differences between the hype and the way I consider that a reputable, reliable search engine marketing firm, such as Search High, should behave and communicate with clients.

I will show you how to avoid failure and achieve dramatic success for your organisation.

In order to do so, and in the interest of revealing where the line between truth and fiction lies, I will help you understand what works and what doesn’t, what you can believe and what you definitely should treat with suspicion.

Search Engine Optimisation, like many areas of IT-based services, has grown up with many myths around it. Some of these are repeated so many times by non-professionals within an immature industry, that they become generally accepted by many.

How are you to distinguish truth from fiction? How can you gather the facts in order to make an informed business decision? If you want the answer to these questions, you’ve come to the right place, so read on

The Myths about SEO

You should be aware that the following are search engine myths, and I'll explain why.

Myth # 1: “If We Build It, They Will Come”

By now you've probably paid for the development and hosting of your company website on the Internet for the entire world to see. You probably paid a significant amount of money to create an elaborate website for your business. You might even have had your own people create the website if you have the skills in-house.

Once the site had been uploaded to your host, you waited for emails to come flooding in and for the phone to ring

And waited

Until slowly it became evident that no-one was visiting your site.

That's right. People don’t just start “turning up” on your site.

Because even though your website is now on the Internet - and technically it is "active" - no-one knows that it actually exists on the internet.

The simple fact is that if you want potential customers to visit your website, with a good chance of them actually becoming customers, you have to act to promote your website to qualified and relevant potential visitors.

You have to find the people who will likely buy from you and tell them enough to get them to your website. All this, whilst avoiding upsetting these people or others who have no interest in your products or services, but who have the potential to damage your reputation.

But how can internet marketing damage your company’s reputation? It’s all here, so keep reading. There are thousands of companies who have trusted the wrong (unprofessional) marketers or tried to perform their own search engine optimisation, pay for placement programs and internet marketing campaigns without the right level of expertise, experience and funding.

To keep everyone happy, you almost need a degree in Web Politics.

I can show you what you need to do, so that thousands upon thousands of people, people keen to buy or at least know more about your product or service, will not only know that your site exists, but will want to visit your site. Just keep on reading

Myth # 2: “Guaranteed Placement or Your Money Back”

No credible and experienced search engine marketer can guarantee future results. Except for pay-for-placement (PFP) search engines, no one can guarantee top positions because directory editors and search engine algorithms have ultimate control.

At the end of the day, all of the major search engines ultimately decide which web sites to include in their indices.

Like all marketing, search engine marking is an art, not an exact science. This is difficult for many who have always worked in the binary world of IT to understand. This is one of the reasons that I would advocate ensuring that the marketing department has ultimate control over the website.

There is no more justification for IT departments to “own” a commercial website than for them to control the company accounts. (Accounting is an art too, yes, honestly!) They may support the systems, if hosted internally, but that should be it.

And if you currently work in IT and have responsibility for the commercial website, it can only be in your own interest to let marketing own the website.

Time to let go!

The point is, no accountant can tell you what your profits will be at the end of the next year (I used to be one, so I often use this analogy). In the same way, no search engine marketer can tell you what positions in the search engines your website will be listed at. If they say they can get you listed at a specific position, through optimising and submitting your website, be very sceptical.

Professional SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) practitioners will never claim, with absolute certainty, that their efforts result in top search engine positions for terms relevant to your site's aims.

Myth # 3: Search Engine Marketing Guarantees Permanent Positions

Search engines constantly modify their algorithms, often daily. The same sites will not always appear in the same positions.

The search engines and directories do not want the same sites appearing over and over again in the same positions. So, other than pay for placement, no professional SEO firm worth their salt, should be promising permanent top positions- nobody can guarantee this. Instead, what you should be able to expect is to have consistent, quality and relevant traffic from the search engines over a reasonable time period.

Myth # 4: The Goal of Search Engine Optimisation Is to Achieve Top Positions

Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? Well, this myth is very prevalent and mistaken. Here’s why.

The ultimate goal of search engine optimisation is not to achieve top positions in those search engines and directories. No, the goal of SEO is to produce steady or increasing relevant, qualified traffic to your website, leading to greatly increased sales opportunity and ultimately an increased return on investment for that website.

On average, most web sites receive between 6-7 percent of their overall traffic from the search engines. A successful search engine marketing campaign should deliver qualified traffic at least in the double digits. Note that whilst total traffic may increase by less that 100%, qualified traffic may increase many fold.

Time to discover more myths of SEO that you MUST know about...

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