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The world of SEO is constantly evolving with new search engine algorithm updates and innovations. That makes it difficult for marketers and website owners to distinguish credible SEO facts from fiction. Consequently, it has led to the rise of numerous SEO myths.
But if you’re trying to build a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy in 2022, it’s essential to understand the truth behind these myths. Otherwise, it’s easy to get caught up in the rigmarole of misinformation and derail your website’s search engine rankings.
In this blog, we’ll outline a few common SEO myths you should no longer believe. Let’s dive right in.
Nofollow Links Aren’t Valuable for SEO
Do nofollow links help SEO? It’s one of the first questions that’ll come to your mind when identifying link-building opportunities for your SEO strategy.
Unless you’re living under a rock in 2022, you already know that high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites are crucial for SEO. They boost your website’s credibility, reliability, and trustworthiness. Also, they help search engine spiders make sense of the on-page content. They even drive referral traffic to your website.
But any SEO specialist will tell you that search engines also consider dofollow links as a ranking signal. If that’s true, does it mean you should avoid nofollow links?
Absolutely not.
While nofollow links may not have a direct impact on search engine rankings, they can still be valuable to your website. For instance, a nofollow link from a high-authority online publication will skyrocket referral traffic to your website. Also, it’ll help you increase brand awareness and online visibility.
Better still, readers of the linking site will perceive your website as an authoritative source of information. If you’re lucky, they might use your content as a reference in their blog posts and add a dofollow link to your website. That, in turn, will boost search engine rankings.
So, even though nofollow links may not take your website to the top of search engine results, they’re still valuable for your SEO strategy.
You Don’t Need SEO Anymore
If you’re launching a business in 2022, it’s easy to assume that you can attract new customers from Instagram, Tiktok, and other social media platforms. You might wonder whether you need an SEO strategy at all.
But consider this – Google has more than 4 billion users worldwide. Also, it receives more than 100,000 search queries every second.
Whether you’re selling luxury dog beds or enterprise-grade delivery management software, your target customers are using search engines to learn about your products/brand and make purchase decisions.
If your website doesn’t make it to the top of relevant search engine results pages (SERPs), you’ll struggle to build brand awareness and credibility. That makes it crucial to work on a result-oriented SEO strategy to amplify website traffic and acquire new customers.
Long-Form Content is SEO Gold
Marketers and website admins are often obsessed with churning lengthy blog posts and product descriptions to boost search engine rankings. It stems from the belief that the longer the content, the higher its chances of SEO success.
But it’s crucial to understand that search engines prioritize content relevance and quality over length. Their end goal is to deliver the best search experience to users.
Let’s say you run a Google search for the “steps to bake a chocolate cake.” Would you scroll down a 3,000-word essay about the origin of chocolate cakes? Or would you rather take a quick look at a concise 500-word chocolate cake recipe?
Search engine algorithms understand that users want access to meaningful and accurate information. They analyze the contextual relevance of your content to a search query to determine its ranking.
So, instead of obsessing over length, it’s wider to create high-quality content that addresses a user’s needs and search intent. Choose an optimum length that justifies the topic.
You Can Never Understand Search Engine Algorithms
Leading search engines, including Google, will never spill the beans about what goes into determining your website’s search engine rankings. But that doesn’t mean search engine algorithms are shrouded in mystery.
You can follow various credible websites, such as Search Engine Journal and Search Engine Land, to stay on top of the latest news on search engine algorithms. Also, Google regularly publishes guidelines and best practices for SEO to help you improve your rankings.
In Conclusion
We’ve covered a glimpse of myths that could derail your SEO strategy and take a toll on your website’s rankings. Focus on using genuine white hat techniques to boost search engine visibility and attract traffic. Also, follow reliable SEO news portals for the latest update on how search engine algorithms work.
