There are plenty of myths circulating about search engine optimisation. Be particularly wary of these 10 – search engines won’t forgive you for them.
#1: The more backlinks, the better
That used to be true. Today, however, search engines assess link building holistically. They evaluate the sites you link to and the sites linking to you. They assess whether they are relevant and whether you cover the same topic.
It’s fine if a home decor magazine links to a furniture e-shop or shares the work of an interior design studio. But links to a car repair shop, for example, are hard to justify. You can check the links pointing to your website using the Ahrefs tool. You can also check backlinks in Google Search Console.
Google also allows you to disavow links you consider irrelevant – simply upload a list of them.
#2: We don’t need the HTTPS encryption protocol
Many companies believe that if they do not collect sensitive data, encryption is not necessary. However, this has not been the case since January 2017. Google has long advocated for secure websites and also assesses security levels as part of its algorithm.
Switching to an encrypted HTTPS connection therefore means not only greater convenience for users, but also bonus points for SEO.
#3: Meta tags matter most of all
The „title“ and „description“ meta tags describe the page’s content. Search engines use them and display them to users to help them navigate search results more easily. In addition to the „title“ meta tag, it is generally recommended to include a keyword in the „description“ meta tag as well – as this can then appear in bold and attract even more attention from users in search results.
However, you write descriptions for users, so there is no point in overloading them with keywords. In 2009, Google announced that the „description“ and „keywords“ meta tags are no longer evaluated by the algorithm.
But that doesn’t mean there’s no point in paying attention to the “description” tag, for example. Google continues to take the content of the “title” meta tag into account. What’s more, meta tags give you the chance to stand out from the competition in search results. Meta tags thus influence a page’s click-through rate.
#4: Keyword optimisation is SEO
The words you use on a page are, of course, crucial for search engines to understand what the page is about.
However, since last summer, Google has been using artificial intelligence as part of its Hummingbird algorithm. In other words, page content is evaluated by a computer that is constantly learning to understand text based on the knowledge it already possesses. Using the new algorithm, Google no longer simply reads the page, but attempts to grasp the underlying idea of the text and then present it in the results.
How to optimise a page? The only correct approach is to prepare its content perfectly for the user. This way, the content will be relevant to the topic, contain enough keywords and phrases (but not too many), and naturally address users’ additional queries.
#5: The H1 heading is the most important element on the page
The H1 heading is usually a large heading in the page header; it is prominent and users notice it at first glance, but it is by no means the most important element for SEO.
As mentioned above, Google tries to view content as a whole and in context. From an SEO perspective, it is merely a styled heading; Google is equally interested in the surrounding content. It is therefore not important for the heading to contain a keyword, but rather for the user to immediately understand what they will find on the page.
#6: The homepage should contain plenty of content
The homepage must answer two questions for the user: “What do you do?” and “What benefits do you offer?”. This is what the homepages of global brands Evernote and Apple look like.
Most companies will need more content, yet it’s true that less is sometimes more. Moreover, content on the homepage has little impact on SEO. The UX designer should decide on the content based on what your users expect.
#7: The more pages I have, the better
It is said that the more pages you have, the more traffic you will get. As with link building, the same applies to content pages – quality over quantity.
In 2017, everything revolves around the user and how easily they can navigate the site. Take Evernote, mentioned earlier: it manages with around 20 pages. Microsites and single-page websites are gaining popularity.
These days, if you have unnecessary or duplicate content on your site, you’re more likely to be penalised by search engines. After all, search engines don’t necessarily have to index every single page you have. For example, if a page is too similar in content to another, Google will remove it from its index.
#8: Images don’t need optimising
They do. After all, search engines allow image-based searches. Search bots mainly rely on the image’s filename and the ‘alt’ tag. If you don’t provide a relevant filename, there’s a risk that the bots will simply ignore the image. In the age of infographics and visual content, that would be unfortunate.
Use a keyword in the image name; in this case, it counts, and it’s certainly better than uploading an image named DCIM20170220.jpg to the page.
#9: Responsiveness isn’t important
Many websites completely ignore users with mobile devices. But, for example, over 35% of users view AITOM.cz on a mobile phone or tablet. That’s not exactly a small number. For many lifestyle websites, for instance, the percentage will be much higher.
Since 2015, Google has been checking whether websites are optimised for mobile devices and considers this a positive factor for SEO rankings.
Check whether your site is optimised. AITOM is doing well in this respect.
#10: User experience is a bonus, not a priority
New SEO is no longer about using keywords or cramming in links, but exclusively about users and their comfort.
User experience should be the number one priority. Google evaluates a whole range of factors that influence user experience. It wants to be sure that when it recommends a specific page to you, you’ll find what you’re looking for on it.
So focus on: page load speed, check how much time users spend on the page, how many pages they visit per session, and how much they scroll on the pages. All of this will tell you whether users are devouring the content or preferring to go elsewhere. You can verify how users navigate the site through user testing.