Banbury Howard

Some popular misconceptions about SEO (Part one)

As Suffolk’s only Google accredited partner, we are often asked to explain to our clients how Search Engine Optimisation or SEO has changed over the last few years. From panda to penguin to hummingbird, every algorithm update makes SEO companies change or tweak their tactics. SEO companies or agencies who keep up-to-date with the latest digital developments, have moved away from massive link building to content marketing.

Those that think a SEO company’s job is just to write keyword optimised content, couldn’t be more wrong. A lot of marketers aren’t sure what is actually useful for their SEO and what is wasted effort. We have spoken to a few local companies in Ipswich and around Suffolk who have an in-house marketing team putting a lot of time and effort into SEO work that just isn’t getting results. In this blog series, we aim to let you know what’s important for your SEO and what’s not. Here are some of the popular misconceptions about SEO.

A big misconception held by many is that people think IT departments can handle their SEO. Although the job of a SEO company is technical, it is entirely different to the expertise typically offered by an IT company. Although some may provide web design and development as an additional service, most of them work on things like setting up networking, backups, virtualisation etc. All very different from the skills needed to provide SEO.

A lot of companies think that Google won’t find you if you don’t submit your site to Google. This is not strictly true – you can still appear on search results without submitting your site to Google. Submitting your site via webmasters tools doesn’t guarantee you a better ranking. Using Google’s webmasters tools is something that you need to do for your peace of mind, so that you know how many pages are indexed on your site. This way, if there are any pages that haven’t been indexed, you’ll be notified if your site gets penalised by Google.

Another mistake is investing in link building, instead of relevant content. Although links are important for your site, you may want to use the services of a professional copywriter to write highly engaging content for your site. Make sure if you do hire someone for link-building, you give priority on quality rather than quantity of links. Keep in mind that linking isn’t a numbers game anymore.

Last, but not the least, a good ranking doesn’t necessarily mean a great conversion rate. Although websites ranked higher for search get more click through, there are other factors like Google Authorship and rich snippets that influence the click through rate too. But do make sure well-designed landing pages are in place to make it easier for your visitors to convert. Look out for our next blog for more SEO myths.

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