by samWith SEO being a fairly new and exciting area of Internet marketing strategies, no one’s certain of what does and doesn’t work. For this reason, when something comes about that seems to be effective, people can be quick to assume that it’s a written-in-stone staple of successful SEO. This is not the case. The fact of the matter is that SEO strategy is crawling with myths, myths that can be damaging to your company and need to be busted.
All of the following are myths:
One strategy is enough: Using the same SEO strategy for a range of sites is not effective. Every site is a different beast that needs taming, and the same tactics that worked brilliantly for one site could be inappropriate. A good Internet marketing agency will recognise that search engines will look at different categories and use different algorithms for different types of sites.
Use the same strategy as the successful sites: The unfortunate truth is that a lot of these sites gained an advantage by being one of the first sites to enter that particular market sector of the web, gaining vast amounts of inbound link building as they were simply one of the only sites around at the time. If you were to copy their tactics, therefore, you would stand no chance by comparison.
The competitors cheat, so I can too: No, no, no! Black-hat SEO is never a good idea. Your competitors may be getting away with it for now, but it’s only a matter of time before Google blacklists them, and their ranking chances are in tatters. The only way to a surefire SEO campaign is a long-term and consistent implementation of white-hat SEO procedures.
SEO is a one-off fast track to success: SEO does not happen overnight; it is not a quick fix but rather a lifestyle choice. It becomes a part of the daily routine of your company’s activity, and it is a constant background operation.
Google is all that matters—wrong: Sure, Google has a solid 64% (as of April 2011) market share of search engines, but the likes of Bing matter with a market share of around 14% (up 1 in April 2011 since the previous year). It’s also a common misconception that all search engines function the same way; each should be catered for differently in an SEO strategy.
All of the above, and hundreds more, are common misconceptions that can harm your SEO if you choose to follow them. You must ensure that myths like this are not confused with the correct SEO strategy. Being able to tell the truth from the false is something that all good online marketing consultants should be comfortable doing for you.