1. XML Sitemap Will Boost Your Ranking

One of the popular SEO myths is the misunderstanding of the XML sitemap. If you have ever heard from your SEO Specialist that the execution of an XML Sitemap will expand your ranking positions, or your sitemap will permit crawlers to index all your new pages straight away – forget about it. 

During the Q&A session arranged by Google in 2008, Trevor Foucher from the Webmaster Tools Team said that a sitemap doesn't influence the ranking positions of site pages. It might feel like a long time ago, but Google’s position on Sitemap & Rankings hasn’t changed from that point forward

As much as a Sitemap does not help or frustrate your website to get great ranking results, it helps search engine crawlers to read your website structure and content which might lead to further increases in your visibility and/or rankings. 

2. Keyword Research Is Not Important

With the development of voice search and user-friendly content, someone could think keyword research is no longer important. It is one of the awful SEO myths.  But, in fact, high-quality keywords research is still very important.

You should consider your business services & products, the size of your website, and your competitors when your keyword research. 

What really matters is that the keywords of your choice should be used in a responsible way. Over-optimization which includes keyword stuffing is one of the issues, we see consistently. While writing new content for your site you ought to strongly consider if the text can be read naturally. Aggressive implementation of keywords might result in users leaving your site quicker.

If you wonder where to find keywords and their search volumes, our team can recommend a free tool called Google Keyword Planner.

3. Loading Speed Is Not Important

Speed is a very big ranking factor not only for organic search but also for Google Ads. The ranking is not the only reason why you should improve web loading time. Loading time is a role key to lowers bounce rates and higher conversions rates. The low speed will make people leave your site. 

And don’t remember that your website should also have a good load speed on the mobile version.

You can see more How To Speed Up WordPress Site In 20 Minutes

4. Paid Search Can Boost Your Organic Results

Organic results and Paid results have different specifications. Paid search results have different appearances and show independently to organic results. 

Your organic search results are based on complex factors for example content, backlinks, speed, and many more.

Paid search results depend on your money and competition. The paid search might help your business to gather important information about quality keywords which can be used in the future in the organic optimization, but it won’t help your organic results.

5. It Is All About Backlinks

Backlinks is one of the SEO myths this year. Yes, the importance of backlinks in 2020 is still undeniable however, you should strongly consider what type of backlinks your website needs. 

In 2012 Google carried a large algorithm update named ‘Google Penguin Algorithm Update’. This update was targeting & penalizing websites with a high number of low quality and irrelevant backlinks. In the early days of Penguin update, penalization included even full exclusion from indexing.

It is another SEO myth, that every backlink has the same quality and passes the same link juice. You should avoid gathering backlinks that come from irrelevant pages or their domain authority is low, and organize backlinks from websites with a similar subject and high DA only.

6. Google My Business Will Help Your Ranking Position

Google My Business & Bing Places for Business are great tools where you can open your business to Google and Bing clients, however, it won't really build your ranking position. 

Whilst guaranteeing your business you can provide various information for example name, address, business phone number, special offers and services, business logo, and photos which after verification will appear on top of the listing. It is significant anyway to remain reliable while giving the business data. You ought to guarantee that contact subtleties are the equivalent on your site, GMB, Bing Places for Business, and Social media profiles. 

To increase an additional audience, you may also need to inform your clients and customers that your business has been listed within Google My Business and provide them with the generated review link. 

Google My Business, helps to make your business more obvious in the search engine, but it does not affect your ranking position directly.

7. Social Media Isn’t That Important

In 2020, Social Media continually plays an important role in the digital world. 

Even though John Mueller said that there is no direct ranking signal in the Google algorithm, it is still recommended to run your social media platforms. Social media platforms help you to better engage with your customers and strengthen your branding. It can also reinforce your appearance in SERP.

In June 2019, Google turned out Diversity update,  which was forestalling a similar space to show up more than twice on a similar quest posting and was giving an opportunity for comparable sites to show up in query items. 

We have seen that if a business has already effectively social media accounts it could build an appearance in the SERPS.

 8. Google Penalises For Duplicated Content

One of the most popular SEO myths is still alive in 2020. We should explain Google won't punish your site for having copy content on your site. It is important however  what Google can do if the copied substance will be identified

If various pages contain the same content across a few pages and standard tags haven’t been set correctly, it is dependent upon Google to choose which page will be positioned for the inquiry which may contrarily affect your rankings. 

The best practice is to avoid having copy content on your website, and where possible replacing any with unique and high-quality content instead.

If you have two pages with almost identical content you should either permanently redirect (301) one of the pages to another or at least set up a canonical tag on one of those.

9. Having A Secure Website Is Not Important

One of Google’s priorities is to guarantee their administration's use and provide industry-leading security. We continually see and hear the stories where sites have been attacked in a cyberattack and malicious code has been implemented across the web pages. 

In 2020 it is extremely important to guarantee your site is protected by SSL (Secure Socket Layers) certificate which protects sensitive data from being stolen by hackers. 

By equipping your site with an SSL certificate, you not only secure your site & data contained on it but also you protect your client information for example names, addresses, card details, and many more. 

If you wonder if there are any SEO ranking advantages from having a safe website, then we can say yes. In 2014 Google confirmed that all HTTPS websites will receive a minor ranking boost

 10. SEO Is All About Rankings

Many people think that SEO is just ranking. But Seo is more than ranking positions. It is not only about ranking but also about the high-quality content, ease of reading, user-friendliness of your website and more. 

Many of our customers would say that SEO is about the return on investment. They put hard-earned money on the website and hope to see either traffic increment or higher benefits (contingent upon concurred objectives).

For every SEO specialist, it is all about constant improvements and never slowing down. Google rolls out algorithm updates on a daily basis and we need to be ready to change the tactics whenever it is needed.

As you can see depending on the position from which you are looking at SEO, you will find different answers about what SEO is really about.

Conclusion

I hope 10 SEO Myths You Should Ignore will useful for you. It will help you grow your site and find even better ways to cater to your target audience with results-driven content marketing.

You can see more What Is Technical SEO And Why Is It Important?

If you have any questions about SEO Myths, you can fill out the contact form or leave comments in the section below, we are willing to answer all of your questions.

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