Digital marketing can be in-depth or as simplistic as you like, it’s uniquely customisable making it much more effective than traditional forms of marketing. As a digital marketing tool, SEO is shrouded in mystery, more than most other branches of digital marketing. But it’s as important as having a street address for a physical shop owner. You can have the nicest shop, but without an address and a way for people to find you, it’s going to remain the best-kept secret and that’s not good for business. Yet, SEO has a reputation for being scary. Busting SEO myths will help you get comfy with it.
1. SEO is super technical – FALSE!
You don’t have to understand code to leverage the power of SEO in your digital marketing artillery. Mastering SEO comes down to common sense and remaining detail-orientated, don’t skip any opportunities to insert searchable terms. It is about knowing the right process to use.
2. SEO is something you can set-and-forget – FALSE!
SEO requires ongoing tweaking and adjusting. Think of a car – buying a new vehicle from a dealer, that quarter tank of petrol you get won’t last forever. It runs out. You have to keep topping it up to keep moving forward. You also need oil changes, water top-ups, and services. SEO is your fuel. It requires topping up, maintenance, and services in order to run smoothly. Likewise, your website needs to be updated with fresh, relevant content, blog posts, and new plugins on an ongoing basis.
3. Websites come complete with superb and ready-to-roll SEO setups – FALSE!
Your website does not automatically come complete with SEO setup. Graphic designers and developers are brilliant at what they do. But site optimisation falls under a different profession. You need valuable, well written, optimised content on your website – meat on the bones to feed Google.
4. It’s difficult to understand what Google wants – PEOPLE OVERCOMPLICATE IT!
There’s only one golden rule to understand what Google wants: a GREAT experience for their users. They will always promote the sites that give users a great experience; ease of use, easily accessible, easy to read and understand. Give your website visitors a great experience by aiming to understand them. Spend less time talking about your business and more time talking about the way in which your products or services make life better by saving them money and time and making them feel good.
5. You need expensive tools – FALSE
There’s an abundance of free resources and tools online, right at your fingertips. Some of the paid products are nice to have but not essential. You do not need fancy reports. You need an SEO strategy that gives you website traffic and increases your sales counts. Spend less time on reporting and more time on the revenue-generating aspects of SEO like writing content, researching keywords, and implementing new effective strategies.
6. SEO is everything you say and do online – FALSE
It is always important to understand your online footprint but not every online activity results in boosted SEO. You have to be strategic. If you are posting on social media platforms, getting on podcasts, and writing blog posts based on user intention, ALWAYS include a call to action so that the reader or listener actually follows the link to visit your site. It is not enough to simply have the presence leading back to your site. You must direct people to follow the pathway you have created. Think about a pathway that is never used, it quickly becomes overgrown with grass and plants. A pathway that is often used stays clear and open, welcoming more people to follow it.
