Warmest Greetings,

Never Mention the Words "SEO MYTH" Around Bill  

:: Monday, November 28, 2005 ::

Somebody had the nerve to suggest that SEO's take another look, for the zillionth time, at Search Engine Optimization Myths. So, with his carload of search engine patents, high IQ and keen memory for everything anybody ever said anywhere on the Internet, Bill Slawski launched into SEO Myths at Cre8asiteForums.

Oui.

SEO Myths:

1. SEO copywriting means writing strong copy, then inserting keywords within the copy a number of times.

2. keyword density is important, and you don't want too much or too little.

3. You should place content above menus to have it "crawled first"

4. Meta tags are the key to high rankings

5. The revisit meta tag can tell search engines to come back on a regular basis

6. META name="robots" Content="Index, Follow" is important

7. The more links the better

8. Pagerank is dead

9. There is a duplicate content penalty

10. There is a certain percentage of duplication that you can get away with before your page will be filtered in the results

11. There is a sandbox

12. There are thousands of search engines to submit your site to

13. You need to submit your site to the major search engines.

14. Resubmitting sites to search engines helps your site get crawled more frequently

15. Appearing in DMOZ is essential to high rankings

16. High rankings are the aim of SEO

17. Optimizing for specific keyword phrases is the goal of SEO

18. You shouldn't optimize a site for terms that are too broad or too narrow.

19. Once you've achieved a top ranking with a page, you should adopt a hand's off approach to that page.

20. Hidden links or text in a page can get your page ranked higher.

21. Software, which compares your use of keyword phrases in titles, headlines, meta tags, etc., with pages that rank highly for those terms can help you rank highly for those phrases.

22. Participating in pay-per-click or paid impression programs on the search engines can help or harm your search rankings.

23. Search engines don't index dynamic sites

There are some gem-like comments in the thread, like Ammon Johns:

"For a great many SEOs, highest possible rankings are all they care about. Which is one of the reasons I have always believed that fully 95% of all persons claiming to be SEOs are unprofessional idiots. May sound harsh, but you try running a search that will return a lot of SEO companies and see how many you yourself, as someone who knows about SEO, would hire. I made it fewer than 5% that I could recommend anyone hire."

In my world, where I get desperate pleas for help from those who hired a SEO and were promised the moon and stars, the heart in the stake SEO myth is this:

"If you get the number one position, business and traffic will go through the roof!
(and you'll soon be driving that pretty red sports car.)"

To which I point you to Jim Hedger's article, Usability Strategy and Search Engine Optimization, to complete your SEO Myth research. He points out,

"Google placing more weight on user behaviours makes sense. User behaviour is a logical extension of the democratic concept of PageRank in that the users’ collective judgment is incorporated into that of the webmasters who coded incoming links."

Never mention SEO Myths around me without also thinking about what happens when your prospective vistior or accidental tourist-visitor finds the web page.

If you want that click, make the content fit.

:: posted by Kim Krause Berg on 11/28/2005 08:53:00 PM

:: Today's Post Permalink | Back to the BLOG Home
:: Website Evaluations
:: Email this Post  
:.................................

Feed Bin

Learn how to make RSS Feed Buttons

Highly Recommended!
(Read review)
Search Engine Marketing Kit, by Dan Thies

• User Centered Design
• Usability Industry Research
• Increase Website Conversions
• Starter Ecommerce Checklist

• Web Design & The Usability Effect
• Usability and SEO Humor

Crooked sunglasses

My artistic friends love this picture.

• About Kim Krause Berg
• My Articles
• Me Again (My Fave Blog Posts)
• August 2005 : Expanding on Usability - An Interview with Kim Krause Berg
• Kim's Wish List

Recent Posts

Yale Law School Hosts A Symposium on Search Engines, Law, and Public Policy

You Are Not a Web Professional Unless You're Rich, Single, Childless and Can Hire a Maid

Search Engine Optimization's Cousin, Accessbility

Online User Study on Whether to Charge For Shipping, or Not

Be Kind To End Users - It's World Usability Day

Threadwatch Support Group for Work-at-Homeaholics

The History of an @ Sign

Shagtastic Kim Krause Berg

Getting Caught With Your Web Site Usability Zipper Wide Open

Why Bother With Blog Usability When It's Really Just Another SEO Tool?

Monthly Archives

It's That Book Again

Conversions Topic is New York Times Best Seller (Seriously)

Kim is a Member of the Usability Professionals Association

"This report exceeded my expectations. After reading it a few times, I went through and highlighted those parts of your actionable advice that I want to implement right away... I ended up highlighting most of the report. Stellar job. I won't hesitate to recommend you to one of my own clients." -- Andy Hagans of AndyHagans.com

"I have implemented the most obvious changes and I suppose the fact that we've seen an immediate increase in sales/conversions is no coincidence. I'd highly recommend your service to anyone running a serious web based business." -- Steve Clay, Plumeriabay.com

"As soon as we get our hands on one of her usability studies, my clients and I have a better understanding of what needs to be done with their sites to make them the best they can be from their site visitors' perspective."
-- Jill Whalen, HighRankings.com

"This is an exemplary piece of work." -- Rand Fishkin, SEOMoz.org

View more Testimonials | Clients
Learn about Website improvement services.