Chances are, if you've asked for advice about building a website, you've heard the acronym SEO come up. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Your site's optimization is how visible it is when people are searching online. Proper search engine optimization is a true science, and, similar to science, a lot of facts and myths surround it.

 

Myths Surrounding SEO Debunked

 

The best search engine optimization is bought.

 

You don't have to buy your ranking on search engines to fall on the front page, with optimal visibility. Of course, the paid sites will be on the top, but there are still plenty of pages that will be on the front page due to their popularity and optimization.

 

On the other side of things, your organic ranking is not affected by the fact that you have a sponsored link or paid ranking. In that sense, if you decide to no longer pay for your ranking, you will fall right back in line where your page would appear organically.

 

All you need to do is stuff your page with keywords.

 

Ah, keywords. We're guessing you haven't heard about SEO without also hearing about keywords. Keywords are the words or phrases that consumers are likely to be searching for when searching for your product or service. For example, "car dealership in Los Angeles" or "car dealer near me" are phrases people may be searching for when looking for a new vehicle. Your website should utilize these popular phrases to help your optimization.

 

However, there is such a thing as keyword stuffing. When pages are scanned for content to determine their ranking, they can actually be flagged with too many keywords and it will, in turn, lower your ranking. Search engines are more focused on better content, which they know can be compromised with too many keywords or filler fluff. This applies to anchor text as well. While it used to be crucial for anchor text to be popular keywords, it's now advised to use brands, company names, or generic (but fitting) wording so your page doesn't look overstuffed.

 

Your page needs to be consistently refreshed to stay relevant.

 

Not all businesses need to have running content on their home page, or even consistently change it. If you are a site that focuses on news or gossip, for example, it's imperative that this content is regularly updated. However, for a small business, you can keep your home page static.

 

One thing your page does need is new content added to keep its ranking. After all, search engines rank pages on their ability to be an authoritative resource, which isn't likely if your content hasn't changed in months. Utilize a blog page to be able to continuously add new content without having to constantly redo your site completely.

 

While proper search engine optimization can be difficult to master, it can also flood potential customers to your business, so it's definitely important to try and learn. But, arguably the most important part of search engine optimization? Don't ever quit. Rankings don't last if you don't keep up your part.

 

See SEOlutions for more information.