Bite-Sized Truths and Myths About SEO

Truths vs Myths

Myth: On site optimization is just a small part of SEO.

Truth: On site optimization plays a big role.

There are very few blog entries about on site optimization. Perhaps because it is closely tied to having a technical background. On site optimization can just as easily deal with keywords as much as it can with coding. And with all the new coding required stuff coming out like Schema Markup, Responsive design, Site speed optimization, etc., it’s easier to just go and do off-site and outreach to try and improve rankings.

That being the case, SEO specialists who know how to do on site optimization well are easily at the best strategic positions today. Lots of people and blogs are talking about linkbuilding, link outreach, co-occurrence, co-citation, etc. Some don’t event know what they’re talking about.

Shift focus to on site optimization. You’ll thank me for it.

Myth: You don’t need technical SEO. Content is king.

Truth: You have no Frikin’ idea what you’re missing.

Technical SEO is just a small part of on site optimization. However, please realize that Google is a technical engine working a technical algorithm that reads your (technical) website.

Remember, your website is made up of a bunch of codes in the back-end. Whether you realize it or not, having a website is already technical in nature. If you neglect technical SEO as unessential because you can write like Seth Godin, you’re wrong. (Well… maybe not if you can really write like Seth Godin.)

A hard tweak here and there, an update on your structured data markup, a canonical to some duplicate pages, and voila!

Technical SEO is where the magic is.

Myth: Linkbuilding is dead.

Truth: Linkbuilding just got a lot more natural.

link-building-is-dead

Any news that something in SEO died is a lie until proven with solid data. Or at least, until Danny Sullivan and Bill Slawski says so.

What really happened is that linkbuilding shifted to a more ‘natural’ way of evaluation. Artificially built links are seen as a taboo – and are deemed to get devalued or penalized.

Of course, building naturally earned links is encouraged. Who are we kidding? It’s way harder to earn links than build ’em up-front.

However, if naturally earned links make it harder to game Google’s algorithm, then it’s going to have to be the way to go.

Myth: Content marketing is the new linkbuilding.

Truth: Not really. You can still go with diversified Linkbuilding.

Content marketing has been built-up and up and up and up. So many blogs wrote about it – even claiming it to replace linkbuilding.

I think you can never replace linkbuilding.

People tried social signals. People are trying co-citation. And so on and so forth.

However, links are still one of the main fundamentals of how Google sees the web. An influx of relationships between one website to another.

Links make up the web. Deal with it.

Myth: What SEOmoz says is what works

Truth: Do your own testing. SEOmoz can be wrong too.

Not long ago, someone tweeted me things that tried to correct the things I wrote in our eBook. It’s funny that he strongly cited Moz as the final and only resource for his claims even going so far as saying what I wrote was “Completely foolish”.

Don’t get me wrong, SEOmoz has been a huge help in giving new SEO specialists a push and advanced SEO specialists a chance to speak up their minds and learn some more.

However, the truth of the matter is, even SEOmoz can be wrong. In fact, the things they wrote in co-citation and co-occurrence are a little off and mixed up. If you ask me, the best SEO principles still lie in your own tests and findings.

Treat SEOmoz as a guide but don’t treat it as the ultimate authority where you would place the foundation of your SEO principles in.

Myth. Matt Cutts is your friend.

Truth. Matt Cutts is a spokesperson of Google. He tells you what they want you to believe.

Confessions of a black hat matt cutts

I’m not going to go so far as to say that Matt Cutts is a fraud and he should be crucified. I think Matt Cutts is ‘just doing his job’. However don’t think that his job entails helping us SEO specialists do our job better.

No, his job is to make Google a little less ‘game-able’ each day. His job is to clean up spam and discourage spammers from spamming. His job is to make sure Google is profitable through being relevant and through serving less spam each day.

Matt Cutts is not your friend. He’s just doing his job.

Go do your own trial and error.

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Sean Si

About Sean

is a Filipino motivational speaker and a Leadership Speaker in the Philippines. He is the head honcho and editor-in-chief of SEO Hacker. He does SEO Services for companies in the Philippines and Abroad. Connect with him at Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. Check out his new project, Aquascape Philippines.