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10 of the most popular SEO Myths



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10 of the most popular SEO Myths

SEO Myths are often used as the true word in the SEO community but also by untechnical clients. There are a lot of misunderstandings and urban legends when it comes to SEO. I find it highly important to outline these kinds of statements as myths, once everyone stops taking them seriously we can move on and focus on the real SEO problems. 
10 of the most popular SEO Myths

Here are a few of the most popular SEO myths out there:

1. SEO can deliver quick and rich results.

This is one of the biggest and most important misconceptions in the SEO world. About 50% of my clients are still waiting for immediate results when it comes to SEO like they want to see a big spike in organic traffic the very next day after I start working on their SEO. 

Truth is that there are no quick results in SEO. Everything takes time and effort to build. But in the end, it is all worth it and more!

2. SEO is a continuous job.

Don't think just because you managed to hit the first page of Google you just need to relax and expect traffic. Work constantly and try to advance in ranks until you reach the first position and after that, keep doing it because your competitors don't rest and eventually you will be outranked. 

3. Domain age.

No. When it comes to SEO and rankings, domain age doesn't matter and there are plenty of studies out there to demonstrate this. Domain authority matters, not domain age!

4. You don't need keyword research.

There is a growing trend in the SEO community that claims you don't really need keyword research anymore. I think you do need to implement keyword research now more than ever. Sure you won't use those keywords to stuff your content, that's a bad practice, but you still need to implement a keyword research nevertheless. 

5. Gest posting doesn't work anymore. 

If done right, guest posting can work miracles, bringing you both traffic, backlinks, and authority. Just don't see guest posting as a way of creating backlinks, do it naturally with the idea of actually helping people by creating quality content. 

6. .edu and .gov backlinks are the best!

This is a very old SEO statement, at least 10 years old. I personally was obsessed with obtaining .edu and .gov backlinks of the years only to find out that such backlinks hold the same weight as any backlinks out there. The source needs to be of high quality, the domain doesn't matter, it can be dot.whatever. 

7. Dedicated IP.

Google and other search engines don't really care if you have a dedicated IP or if you share the same IP with 100 other domains. Although this myth actually has a small level of truth, not regarding rankings but regarding penalization.

8. SEO needs to be implemented after the website is 100% completed. 

Although I hate working on unfinished websites, you can start working on the SEO of a site whenever you want, even if the whole website isn't quite complete yet. 

9. Good content equals good ranks.

This simply isn't true. You can right the best content of all time, that doesn't guarantee you will rank on first positions. There are countless factors that can keep you behind but the most important of them all is the authority. If you don't have backlink authority there are small chances you can rank with the content alone, even if it is high quality. 

Start promoting it, make connections, develop social proof, if your content is good enough it will get traction and only from that point forward you will get good ranks. 

10. Blogs are useless and some websites don't need a blog. 

I've come to the conclusion that blogs are a great way to bring organic traffic. No matter your industry! Writing articles and targeting specific keywords and resolving various problems people have with your articles may be the best way to bring constant free traffic to your website, especially if you don't rank or can't rank with the site's content itself. 

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overcast
I have seen people avoiding the blog for their website. And it seems like the blog from the website can bring some traffic. And it can give some good conversion as well. So in that context it'd be reasonable to say that SEO requires a lot of time and money. And on that context, it'd be reasonable to say that SEO takes more time than anything. I am learning how to burst the myths for the clients.But at the end we have to understand the result based understanding of the SEO is what we should be knowing. That's what I have learned.



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Authord
Yeah, SEO takes time and money, it is art of it's own and even picasso can't perfect that art. They are things that come into play, when it comes SEO, which will throw a beginner off the bridge, I tried it, but it left me with no option than to be humble and learn. It is too complex and it requires patience.



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overcast
Yes it seems like art. The reason being increasing the reputation of the website. That is the hardest part people have to consider. You can see that some people think that by doing the SEO they are going to get the business and leads. And that does not happen. It takes time for clients to realize this part. For each one of them it could be different to understand.



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Corzhens
That is also my impression that SEO work needs a lot of time and money but I am willing to spend time but not money. For a small site it is better to do the SEO work by yourself provided you know the methods. Just be careful in building backlinks because there is a risk involved that you can be posting on a bad site that can harm the search engine capability of hour site.



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overcast
It needs minimum 45 days to see anything serious changes. And also even after that there is not assurance of that ranking to remain same. It can change with new algorithm. The best you can do is build good website and get to market to people. Whether google then rank it or not hardly becomes relevant then.



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Barida
Learnt one or two thing from the 10 myths of SEO. One things people have failed to study is the constant updates by Google which always render some past method of ranking useless while new methods are embraced.



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Authord
Domain age, well I don't really see that as a myth, because it is simple logic. A domain or website that has been old enough will probably rank higher than you, with a domain whose age is lower. Why?, because I think the old aged domain or website, has already been ranked on google, and maybe probably has some back links, which will trigger it above the new ones. I'm pretty sure of that, that's why most affiliate marketers go to Flippa and get old website, to jump start their marketing.



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Cristian
Not true. You can find a 10-year-old domain that was indexed for 10 years in Google but if that domain has zero backlink authority a brand new domain can outrank it by just acquiring a few quality backlinks.

I personally tested this. I always thought domain age must play a role in rankings, but if you think about it, old domains that have been active and done SEO the right way over the years, have gathered a huge authority with a big number of backlinks, this is the reason for their good ranks, domain age has nothing to do with it.



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Authord
Well, if you say so, but I think that back links is not a good practice though in SEO, because Google might change their ranking algorithm and terminate the back links contract, making those sites, that are dependent on back links for ranking, go down the list. What do you think?



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Cristian
If you have black-hat gathered backlinks, yes, sure there is a big danger you will get penalized at some point by Google.
But what about natural, organic backlinks? The ones that you get from another website because your content is so good that people feel the need to link it to other sites?
Those backlinks are benefic and you won't get penalized for having them.



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Heatman
I definitely find these 10 myth of SEO very informative and helpful to anyone who is probably thinking of embarking on SEO jobs. Nice tips, I really appreciate this as I'm looking forward to starting up something sooner than later.

Thanks.
Heatman



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DarthHazard
Blogs are great. It doesn't hurt for your site to have because it can help with search engine optimization and it can bring in more users that are interested in reading your articles as well. I wasn't even aware of the .edu and .gov domain myths, to be honest. But it makes sense because otherwise the internet would be filled with sites that just have .edu and .gov TLD's for some reason even though they have nothing to do with education or the government.



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cmoneyspinner
U: For SEO ... time and effort are required! Staying in everybody's face takes constant work.
Me: Agree. You could be on page 1 of the search results today and disappear just as quickly tomorrow.

U: Domain age does not rule! It's domain authority that matters.
Me: OK. I'll remember that,

U: Part of an effective keyword strategy is keyword research.
Me: OK. Don't let anybody tell me different. Got it!

U: “Guest posting can work miracles.”
Me: I thought so!

U: .edu and .gov backlinks are NOT the best!
Me: Actually? I never thought so anyway.

U: Dedicated IP.
Me: (O.o) Never even thought about it.

U: SEO needs to be implemented after the website is 100% completed.
Me: Who said that? Makes no sense to me. (O.o)

U: Good content equals good ranks.
Me: Yeah. I wish!

U: Blogs are useless and some websites don't need a blog.
Me: I agree with your conclusion. In fact, blogs don't need websites, But websites could sure use some help from blogs.



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kgord
Thanks for clearing up some of these myths! It is always something that we wonder about when we are getting the back story on SEO. I think that many people will be able to look at this and realize that some of the things they thought in the past were actually incorrect.



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TimothyAlex
The only thing I disagree with is #9. The problem is not that good content is a myth, it is what people perceive as good content. There are so many experts out there talking about talking about things like readability, word count, grammar rules, and other such things. So, people are writing content that would make their university professor proud, but that people just do not want to read or meets the demands of searchers. Content writing is a creative work. Moreover, it requires a comprehensive understanding of the target audience. For example, many law firms seem to want content that is written at a very high level, almost to the point that you need a law degree to write it. But, the typical person is looking for information about bankruptcy just wants their questions answered in clear and easy to understand language. So, you need to write the content understanding the intent behind search queries and meeting those needs. At the end of everything, what makes a web page worthy of a high rank is being relevant, reliable, and popular.



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jpyy
The .gov and .edu thing is certainly something Google has caught on to. Note, at one time it meant something, but probably now, as the OP suggests, it means little. However, though, that was something to be expected as it was probably becoming a focal point of linking schemes.



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Corzhens
I have read a lot about SEO results that it cannot be expected to happen quickly. That’s why when a self-proclaimed SEO expert would tell me that he can do an SEO on my website and see the result within a week, that is purely hogwash. And I also believe that an SEO chore is a regular thing no matter if your website’s link is on page 1 already. So you cannot rest on your laurels because you have to continue what you are doing with the SEO chores.



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jaymish2
Very true. Most people don't understand that SEO takes time and is a continuous process. The dream is to start a blog and make money, but most expect it to happen in a week or a month, the reality is that it can take upto six months, for you to even get your first sale , and that's if you are continuously working to improve or maintain your websites rank. Seo sounds easy but it is the hardest task you will ever perform. It requires hard work and patience.



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