Steve Rubel and his ridiculous ‘SEO is dead’ escapade during the Google Instant presentation is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to articles about SEO from outsiders.
Now that SEO has gone mainstream and everbody deals with it many people write about SEO who have barely a clue about it. Others, often web designers who know the basics of SEO from 5 or 10 years ago spread their outdated advice today.
Journalists, bloggers from outside the industry and writers for publications completely unrelated to SEO attempt to “join the conversation”. I have no problem with that.
Make your homework first though and then write. Also make sure to accept feedback. Some bloggers don’t like me pointing out their mistakes and delete my comments instead. Thus I decided to write about it where they can’t.
Another reason to speak up on these SEO myths is that most of them get wildly popular on Twitter. The examples below have garnered hundreds of retweets during the last two weeks.
1. Meta keywords matter for SEO via Mens News Daily
They don’t. SEO practicioners have been saying this for years and Google itself as well as as other search engines have confirmed: Meta keywords are dead as a SEO tactic. Even the meta description does not actually help you to rank better it can only make people click your your result.
-
2. You need to “submit your site to social bookmarking sites“ (like Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon) via 1stWebdesigner and Helium
First off you don’t submit to social bookmarking sites. Social bookmarking is guess what, about bookmarking! So you actually bookmark a site or rather a page as is more often the case. I use Delicious every day for that purpose like most other people. You can encourage people to bookmark you by different means but submitting your site like it’s a directory or something is SPAM.
Then Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon are not bookmarking at all. The 1stWebdesigner author doesn’t even mention Delicious. Digg and Reddit are social news and StumbleUpon is social browsing/social discovery. On all of these sites ”submission of sites” for SEO reasons is frowned upon and that’s certainly not the way SEO works there. SEO on Digg means a clever linkbait headline or striking infographic. Digg ignores such submissions but on Reddit and StumbleUpon you get downright banned for “submitting s” as if it was a directory.
-
3. SEO is only about “top positions” via Webdesignerdepot
I didn’t know whether I should cry or laugh. Another hugely popular web design blog offers a whole post of bogus SEO advice o rather anti-SEO myths. The post starts with the false assumption that SEO is only about top positions and that SEO companies only care for those. How wrong can you get? Most reputable SEO agencies preach usability, conversions and ROI for years, including SEOptimise. Just stop lying pal. I don’t even believe you can be that wrong without lying on purpose. Show me SEO companies that only care top position and I show you those living in the past.
-
4. “SEO is evil” via Business Insider
Wow. Here you have an article by one of the brightest minds i the SEO industry and what does the editor do? S/he apparently changes the headline in order to capitalize on the anti-SEO prejudice wide spread on the Web. SEO is evil? Why then does Google itself publish SEO advice regularly? Please read the Google SEO starter guide [PDF link] first before even considering to meddle with legitimate SEO articles. Also reread the original headline of the post you completely reverted the meaning of: Why Journalists Need To Stop Resenting SEO.
-
5. Local SEO is not SEO via Worcester Business Journal
This one is ridiculous. This journalist claims that you can rank without SEO by using local SEO. As she apparently doesn’t even know that local SEO exists she denounces SEO altogether. Awful ignorance, just awful. You can get your Google Places listing without an SEO professional but to actually rank with it you need a lot specialized local SEO tactics. Enough said.
-
You surely wonder why I don’t link to the above mentioned articles. It’s becacuse every link counts as a vote for Google and any publicity. In case you know these publications I advise you to stop reading them as they spread lies, myths and misconceptions that will cost you money!
Also don’t spread such stories on Twitter. You’re just showing how clueless you are when it comes to SEO.
I have another one to add from a developer I know: “Title Tags are not used in SEO, they are there to tell people what site they are on!”
I’m not sure I need to comment, you say it all … it’s bull
2 More Points
> Better SEO is not about traffic, it’s about increasing revenue and user experience!
> Cold Calling SEO Companies are complete poop! Put the Phone Down
I can’t believe that these “tips” are being perpetuated even today!… Well, then again, I can. :D
I like the list – some of the things said about SEO are just incredible. It’s amazing that for some reason there is this idea that it is about cheating the system – that’s like saying you’ll pay more tax than necessary because you can’t be bothered to read the forms.
The problem is obviously the spammers – I can’t count how many times I’ve seen a top site disappear due to irresponsible behaviour. That is the real evil of the industry (but as long as the SE keep fighting then there is always incentive to try and do things properly).
I have worked with many people that get influenced by these ridiculous outdated notions and make a big deal out of them, because, i think, it allows them to get distracted on the real task at hand …. delivering what is really important and what most do very poorly.
Deliver quality content. If you only focus on that rest is soo easy
Makes you want to weep really. I can’t believe (1) in particular is still getting spread about. I’ve been building websites more years than I like to think about, and meta keywords have always been rated as negligible or no impact. Problem is it’s one of the hardest myths to shake once it’s been planted. I think the idea of it as a quick fix for people’s Google problems is just too compelling.
Seriously. I wish there was a way to hold such People who write that stuff accountable for their lies, misinformation and twisted version of reality. Because innocent business owners suffer. Not good at all…
It will never end – too many people with too much to say. It’s the same with Social Media. Another good one for 2010 is that Google Instant made SEO irrelevant. http://www.steverubel.com/google-instant-makes-seo-irrelevant
Hm, really?
“Most reputable SEO agencies preach usability, conversions and ROI for years”
I have always felt that Usability, Conversions and ROI are their own animals since they apply to so many other things, not just SEO. But to that point what good is SEO if you don’t also focus on Usability, conversions, and ROI?
Excellent read, thanks!
I had to check the date on the post. I can’t believe these myths are still being perpetuated. As someone in the business for over 10 years (web strategy & project management) I tend to forget that not everyone lives and breathes this stuff like I do and there is a lot of mis-information out there that a newbie might buy into. There are a lot of people taking advantage of this and giving us good guys a bad name. Caveat Emptor
Web Designers, Bloggers and Journalists probably make ridiculous comments about most practices. When they speak about SEO, they’re far afield from their areas of expertise.
Hi Tad… I’m the journalist who wrote about Google Places. I just wanted to clarify that I don’t think SEO is useless. This column was meant to give very small businesses (one-, two-person firms) some advice on how to dip their toe into online marketing. Most small businesses (which are the majority of my readers) don’t have the money to spend on outside consultants and thorough SEO programs. I just wanted to give people with a very limited budget an option they might never have considered.
Tad,
Excellent article. These things don’t make me mad, they make me laugh.
And, I’m glad they are being perpetuated out there.
In the end, there are 10 spots on page one for ANY keyword: one word, five-word, whatever.
So it’s very competitive. If a large percentage of my competition wants to do it incorrectly that’s fine with me!
Let ‘em go!!
I’m sure you will get some stick for this post but I’ve got to say kudos, especially for naming names in all cases – it would have been easy to cop out of that but for me this post wouldn’t be anything like as good without it.
How about making a regular series like this with a new edition every couple of months? Like an SEO myths “wall of shame”?
Amen! SEO like *everything* else that goes into a successful website is about quality. Specifically, generating quality interest, leads, return visits, etc. Unfortunately, too often SEO is seen as some sort of magic panacea. As if SEO can save a sucky brand/site from itself.
Hey Tad, how about an article on “How to spot an SEO Snake Oil salesman”? Some of the above obviously applies but I bet there are others.
Thanks again.
To be honest I’m embarrassed to say the meta data depreciation was new to me. But then I could be classed as one of them web designers with 5 years outdated experience.
But hey, I want to learn which is why I’m here!
This is an excellent compilation of SEO myths. Yet it only scratches the tip of the iceberb. How many other scores of myths are floating around out there? If the experts don’t give good advice, then what is the poor amateur supposed to do?
Randy
Great read. You said what we are all thinking. Appreciated
+rep
In total agreement here, but very understandable how people can be confused and post this trash. I was troubleshooting a client’s site and was in touch with a msn/bing rep. They told me to optimize meta keywords for the site. This was not ten years ago or even ten months ago, but in August. While there are some things that differ between google and bing, some of the advice FROM the reps is bogus and there are outdated FAQs referenced by unknowing newbies.
I agree with Christina, that small businesses have very limited budgets. To have a listing on Google Places you do not have to have a website. But if a small business invested in a website, they also should invest in minimum SEO to get return on their investment. Otherwise, it is a waste of money. Therefore, it is also very important to hire a good SEO to get the benefits. Most CMS’es have good plug-ins. Installing those is not that expensive.
Good article, Tad. I would add “keyword density” to the list. People still promote it.
Local seo has worked for me so far just in the natural listings, I will oon put myself in the Loacl listings and feel the benefit of both aections at the top of google. Local listings do work.
Tad,
Excellent article. These things don’t make me mad, they make me laugh.
And, I’m glad they are being perpetuated out there.
Great article and I could agree with you more. I think that most of these articles are most of time written actually for search engines rather than for users. The Google starter guide which you mentioned above (which was recently updated) is more than enough for “regular” people to work with and to rank better. After all, there are those who do not do anything and that is easier to outrank them. Kudos
It makes me wonder if people publish seo tips to hurt potential competition.
hi
You are right.Everyone with a little knowledge of SEO wants to be a blogger.Because of this tendency ,you can find contradictory articles on each topic. Its not easy for a beginner to choose that which point is right and which point is wrong.Thanks for clarifying the Myths of SEO.
Thanks
Amit
Good post, though I’m not sure this is a new thing. I’ve been involved in SEO for 15 years and people have been writing rubbish about it for as long as I can remember.
To be fair to the guy who wrote “SEO is only about top positions” that is certainly the starting position of a lot of uneducated clients, and some won’t listen to their SEOs telling them different. But there’s no excuse for anyone claiming professional knowledge to say or think this.
I have been reading several articles over the past months, and it is indeed very easy for business owners and newer people involved with SEO to get confused given the amount of ‘tips’ and advice that people have written about. This is an excellent post for SEO newbies since there is a lot of contradictory information about this topic. Thank you!
I am no expert on SEO so I have been given all sorts of different advice and have heard much of the above! It is difficult to know where to start but I guess solid research is the best approach from reputable sources. Thanks for sharing, nice read.
As per my opinion, SEO is nothing but its more about making your content publicly visible via ease access by the search engine itself. Hence this is more relevant to the basics. I am a professional SEO and have expertise in this field.
5. Local SEO is not SEO via Worcester Business Journal.
Im not a expert, but OMG !!! This can be real, LOL
But let’s face it, these myths are part of the reason there is a demand for our skill out there. If it was all straight forward and could be found in one blog or on one website there would not be a multi-million dollar industry around SEO..
It always makes me laugh how the meta keywords myth always manages to rear its head.
I totally agree with these comments and I do beleive that any good SEO person/agency needs to understand online marketing principles to help a business or site succeed.
There are many agencies that promote the wrong message which influences clients to all think that they will be number 1. If only they knew…