420 Design Blog
Search Engine Optimization Myths
14 Jun 2005 | Angie H
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has really moved to the forefront of web development, and perhaps most notably, in the minds of businesses who have an online presence. In other words, it's become a well-known topic for a lot of people. But there are still some false notions lingering about that need to be dispelled. Here are some.
Meta tags are the reason sites get ranked high FALSE. Sites will rank well on a number of things, not just meta tags (keywords, title tags, etc.). Most search engines (Google is a good example) don't place as much emphasis on meta tags anymore. Instead, more and more search engines look at your actual content, along with other factors.
Gateway and doorway pages will help Wrong again. The only things a gateway page will do is create more work (which equals more money) and quite possibly get you banned from a search engine. Don't use them. Ever.
Resubmitting every week, month, etc. will help my site rank high and stay on top Nope. Some search engines have been known to penalize sites for resubmitting too often. Some SEO experts even say that resubmitting isn't necessary. There's some truth to this, I think. With this very site I stopped resubmitting every quarter and my search engine ranking improved (although, that wasn't all we did - SEO is much more complicated than that). The truth is, once your site is indexed (i.e. listed in a search engine) it's probably not going to disappear unless your site and its traffic disappears.
The goal of SEO is to be #1 False. The goal should be to increase your ROI (Return on Investment). What investment? Your website of course! Furthermore, studies have shown that sites listed in the top 10 do well overall - there's no real need to be #1 other than to satisfy egos.
An SEO expert or program will guarantee high rankings FALSE! FALSE! FALSE! It's simply not true. No SEO expert worth any amount of money can guarantee your site will be placed at the top of any search engine. However, a good SEO professional can tell you what his/her track record is. That's the closest thing to a guarantee you can get. It's just impossible to predict how your site will do when you stop to consider that thousands of sites are being added to the Internet every day, and search engine algorithms are constantly changing.
There are a million/thousand/gazillion search engines Nope. There aren't quite that many. And even if there were, there's only about a dozen or so you should care about.
New sites won't rank well no matter what Not true. As long as your site is optimized properly and submitted properly, you'll get listed. Maybe not near the top right away, but you'll get listed. The thing about SERP (Search Engine Rank Position) is that it takes patience and time.
Meta tags are now pointless to include in your site's code Wrong. While it's true that many search engines are placing less emphasis on keywords and title tags, there are still some that use those tags to rank your site. Just remember: Not everyone uses Google.