{"id":1610,"date":"2013-08-10T00:32:40","date_gmt":"2013-08-10T00:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/?p=1610"},"modified":"2024-01-23T15:26:02","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T20:26:02","slug":"myths-of-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inmotionhosting.com\/blog\/myths-of-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Myths of SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"seo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Search engine optimization.\u00a0 We talk about it a lot here, as most hosting companies do, because it is daunting and shrouded in mystery.\u00a0 Literally, that\u2019s not one of my usual exaggerations for comedic effect.\u00a0 Google, as an example due to its popularity and nearness to taking over the world, keeps its algorithm a secret.\u00a0 Like government agency secret; probably not \u201cIf I tell you, I\u2019d have to kill you\u201d secret, but pretty close.<\/p>\n

Why all the secrecy?\u00a0 Well, several reasons. It is difficult to have valid results for the searcher if websites know exactly what to do to get their website at the top of whatever list they want.\u00a0 Further, you as a website or small business owner understand the importance of having a good ranking in relative terms, so if Google were to release their secrets to the masses, it would be even more difficult for small businesses to compete with larger companies.<\/p>\n

This mystery adds a lot to the importance of your website\u2019s content.\u00a0 One thing has always remained true throughout the course of website searches \u2013 content is king.\u00a0 If your content is specific and relative to your business, you will find that your ranking will naturally be high in the keywords most relative to your search.\u00a0 The mystery also creates bad practices due to rumors, or outdated and incorrect information.\u00a0 Or, even worse, someone finds a way to cheat the system, and that method spreads across the internet.\u00a0 Suddenly, rankings go haywire, and when Google updates its ranking methods again (usually once or twice a year) all those websites tank in rankings.\u00a0 Search engines keep track of those instances and it becomes very difficult for those sites to recover in ranking.<\/p>\n

So, how do you know what\u2019s a valid tip and what isn\u2019t?\u00a0 That\u2019s what I\u2019m here for. I\u2019m going to help ease some of the rumors or old information that is still floating around and tell you what\u2019s true and what isn\u2019t.\u00a0 It\u2019s my own little digital myth busting, but with less explosions, and no moustaches.<\/p>\n

Adding a location to your website increases your presence in local searches.<\/b><\/p>\n

A lot of people don\u2019t want to put their location anywhere on their website, especially if they don\u2019t own a storefront.\u00a0 But, don\u2019t do that.\u00a0 I\u2019m not suggesting you put your address, phone number, birth date, and social security number on your site, just your city and state.\u00a0 After all, if you didn\u2019t pay for domain privacy, your information is publicly available on the internet anyhow.<\/p>\n

Google now customizes searches to such a high degree, that a search for the exact same keyword with the exact same search history will result in different results if the searches are performed in different locations.\u00a0 If I am looking for a plumber, I don\u2019t care who the best plumber in New York is.\u00a0 I want someone in Virginia Beach, Virginia because that\u2019s where I\u2019m located.<\/p>\n

CONFIRMED.<\/b><\/p>\n

You can use this to your advantage by putting an area map on your site.\u00a0 Also, if you are a business and list your service areas, you will have a broader search radius.\u00a0 If you are not a business, try to focus some of your content on local items.\u00a0 If you have a food blog (like me) post some recipes using local foods, or talk about some local events you attended.<\/p>\n

Higher rankings locally will drive traffic to your site.\u00a0 And traffic increases your overall ranking, so getting local traffic will help your site grow in popularity worldwide.<\/p>\n

Lists show importance, so I should list a bunch of keywords on my home page.<\/b><\/p>\n

Yes and no, but mostly no.<\/p>\n

Yes, lists show the scanning bots that the information included in those lists is important.\u00a0 So, if you have a set of skills, certifications, or services to offer, put them in a list on your home page.\u00a0 But, don\u2019t flood every page with lists of random keywords.<\/p>\n

Relevance and readability are still factors, even to search engine bots.\u00a0 So, make sure your lists make sense or use complete sentences if possible.\u00a0 Also, as with everything, make sure your keywords are relevant to your website.\u00a0 Search engine bots are so advanced now, they can determine if something will make sense to someone reading it.\u00a0 If too many flags come up (like say, a smattering of random words) it will hurt your rankings more than help them.<\/p>\n

BUSTED. MOSTLY.<\/b><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t ignore this just because it\u2019s not your chosen keyword that needs to be on the list on your page.\u00a0 Drawing attention to important words on your website is always a good thing. Plus, you never know what someone is searching for, so you don\u2019t want to give up on something just because you don\u2019t think it\u2019s important.<\/p>\n

Take advantage of this when developing your content.\u00a0 Don\u2019t stop at lists, and use italics, bold, and underline.\u00a0 Anything designed to draw attention to certain aspects of your site will be a way of adding a private note to the bots that this information is most relevant to your website.<\/p>\n

Keywords are the most important factor in SEO, so it is best to flood your website, HTML tags, and code with hundreds of keywords.<\/b><\/p>\n

Please don\u2019t do this.\u00a0 It\u2019s not helpful, and even if it were, your ranking would be all wonky and your site would show up places it doesn\u2019t belong and that wouldn\u2019t help you or your customers at all.\u00a0 And, if I\u2019ve said it once, I\u2019ve said it a hundred times when discussing SEO, relevant <\/i>keywords are what really matter.<\/p>\n

Also, like I mentioned before, bots can tell when a keyword is just inserted on a page.\u00a0 So, make sure that what you use matters, makes sense, and is relevant to the other information around it.<\/p>\n

BUSTED<\/b><\/p>\n

So, how do you get more keywords into your site?\u00a0 Well, first do your research and select the most relevant keywords to the information you are providing.\u00a0 Then, only use 3-5 for each page of your website.\u00a0 This will give your pages focus and will reduce the stress of fitting 30 keywords onto one page.<\/p>\n

When you are writing for your HTML tags, remember that they don\u2019t matter as much as they used to.\u00a0 Title tags are the most important, and after that, photo descriptions, everything else is just a possible<\/i> bonus.\u00a0 Bots don\u2019t crawl tags as much as they used to because the information on your site and the information others say about your site is much more important.<\/p>\n

Bots don\u2019t read punctuation.<\/b><\/p>\n

This is actually true.\u00a0 Bots don\u2019t care about punctuation as much as the words on the screen, so you can increase the number of relevant keywords in an HTML tag or page by creatively using punctuation to your advantage.<\/p>\n

For example, if your key word phrases are:<\/p>\n

Hosting<\/p>\n

InMotion<\/p>\n

InMotion Hosting is awesome<\/p>\n

You can put all of these together in one short sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cDedicated to the customer is what InMotion Hosting is.\u00a0 Awesome hosting is hard to come by.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notice that we have hosting in there twice, InMotion Hosting is in there, and paired with awesome hosting, and it all combines to make the phrase InMotion Hosting is awesome.\u00a0 That is also the perfect length for a HTML Tag, full of keywords and not too long.<\/p>\n

Did you catch the bonus keyword?\u00a0 \u201cDedicated\u201d is the start of the sentence.\u00a0 Paired with the repetition of the word hosting, we are in a good place to be found when someone searches \u201cDedicated hosting\u201d or dare I say, \u201cAwesome dedicated hosting\u201d.<\/p>\n

Long story short, if you have questions about improving your search engine rankings, you should remember what I said at the start of this post: \u201cContent is King\u201d<\/b>.\u00a0 When in doubt, ensure that your content is well written, informative, and full of diverse media.<\/p>\n

There are so many myths about SEO, and the internet is flooded with bad information, and this short post only scratched the surface.<\/p>\n

So, stay tuned to this bat channel for more helpful tips and busting of SEO myths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Search engine optimization.\u00a0 We talk about it a lot here, as most hosting companies do, because it is daunting and shrouded in mystery.\u00a0 Literally, that\u2019s not one of my usual exaggerations for comedic effect.\u00a0 Google, as an example due to its popularity and nearness to taking over the world, keeps its algorithm a secret.\u00a0 Like Read More ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seo"],"yoast_head":"\nMyths of SEO | InMotion Hosting<\/title>\n<meta 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