SEO has long been one of the most effective strategies to drive traffic to your credit union website (or any other website for that matter). If you want to increase your blog traffic in a sustained manner, you must employ a strong and effective SEO approach that produces results. Unfortunately, we are bombarded with SEO misconceptions that are ineffective at best and a complete waste of time at worst. As professionals, we do not have an abundance of time, therefore any time spent on SEO optimization must be focused on truly important items. We’re here to help you cut through the clutter by revealing 6 SEO time-wasters that are circulating. Based on the information provided by Google, these are the approaches and practices that we are aware of.
Myth 1 – Keywords Aren’t That Important
There has been a lot of speculation that keywords are no longer important for SEO – a misconception that started two years ago and remains so today.
Yes, search engines’ capacity to analyze your content is becoming far more complex, which is outstanding as search is becoming more refined. It eliminates the need for us to deliberately place numerous iterations of keywords throughout each piece we create.
However, this does not render keywords outdated. Including the target keywords many times throughout your text can hurt your SEO efforts. You no longer need to emphasize the obvious by stuffing keywords, which comes as a massive relief.
But keywords do serve a greater purpose. If you intend for people to read your content, make sure it’s about something they’re interested in. Today, selecting keywords with a high search volume ensures that you are generating content that is in demand, and that is what SEO is about.
If you stop worrying about keywords, you will lose your capacity to comprehend what your readers desire, and as a result – your traffic will follow suit.
Myth 2 – New Websites Stand No Chance
A lot of people today are shying away from starting a new website, for fear they won’t be able to handle the massive competition out there.
This is merely an excuse. It is a misnomer that you are unable to establish a business on the internet today. Nowadays bloggers more than ever before are growing their empires by launching a second or even third website. It is a common myth that if your website is too small or too new it will simply not rank in the search results.
Google is more concerned with the relevance and quality of your content than with the size and age of your website. Of course, if your goal is to rank for keywords that are impossible to rank for, you’re in for disappointment. However, if you choose your keywords correctly and generate quality content, you can rank well with a brand-new website.
Myth 3 – Backlinks Are the Backbone of SEO
No question about it, backlinks are important for SEO. However, SEO is more than merely acquiring more and more backlinks. They are only one aspect of the equation, and there is much more to it than just getting your page linked.
Backlinks to your site demonstrate to Google that your website is popular and deserving of higher rankings in search results. Each backlink represents a good vote for your website, albeit some votes are more significant than others.
The key here is to avoid spammy links that might be considered black hat techniques and to focus on building your backlinks in a quality manner.
Myth 4 – SEO Is a One-Time Job
As it is well known, SEO is a constantly changing field. To keep up, you must constantly change and stay on top of things. This is why it’s a complete misconception that you can simply optimize your site for SEO and be done with it. An optimized website for SEO does have an expiration date, and it’s usually 3 to 6 months but there is plenty of work to be done after this.
It’s not simply your content that has to be updated over time. You must also update the user experience, maintain performance, monitor your backlink profile, and address any technical concerns such as broken links.
Myth 5 – Social Media Will Directly Improve SEO Ranking
At first glance, social networking does not appear to be a ranking element for Google. They’ve made that obvious in numerous statements. Still, this does not mean that social media does not affect rankings.
The influence of social media on rankings is indirect. Google considers social proof, but it does not directly influence ranks. Comments, likes, votes, and social media activity are not directly incorporated into Google’s algorithm.
However, social media initiatives are essential to brand growth and can have a long-term impact on SEO parameters such as brand recognition and click-through rate.
Myth 6 – 2400 Is the Magic Number for Content-Length
Many studies have shown that the most effective posts – those that rank at the top of search engines – are between 2,350 and 2,425 words long on average. The ideal length for all content may appear to be roughly 2,400 words.
Sadly, this is not always the case. Content length does matter, but not in the way you may think.
According to Google, the ideal length is determined by user experience and user satisfaction. As per Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines, the amount of content required for the page to be fulfilled depends on the topic and purpose of the page.
A high-quality page on a broad topic with a wealth of knowledge will have more content than a high-quality page on a focused topic.
