Through the years, we have had lots of clients and prospects come in and ask all kinds of interesting SEO Questions.
One thing everyone has in common is that we all want to know “what works” and how to do SEO “the right way.”
Well, starting today, we are flipping that subject on its head and focusing on WHAT DOESN’T WORK first. Because sometimes what doesn’t work can actually harm your website rankings if you follow ineffective advice.
Join us here often as we journey through SEO myths and untruths. Write us and help everyone learn from others’ mistakes! Here’s the first SEO Myth.
SEO Myth: “The Way To Rank Higher Is To Use A Keyword Over and Over in Page Text”
Answer:
While the keyword should be on the page several times, it should be integrated in a natural way (think about how your page text would sound if you read it out loud to a customer or prospect.
Keyword Stuffing, the act of repeated and overuse of a keyword in a page to increase its keyword density (the proportion of words on a page that are a keyword to the overall number of words on page), can actually lead to a penalization.Using a keyword over and over may create more relevance to your page for that keyword, however it may also create red flags to search engines. If you try to over manipulate a search engine, they will almost certainly catch you…eventually.
Because many SEO companies agree that 60% of ranking factors (or more) are attributed to Off-Page SEO strategies (such as white hat link building etc.), unless you are in a niche industry with little keyword competition, you will most likely stay outranked by the competition if keyword density and stuffing is your central SEO strategy!
Remember, search engine spiders are not going to convert to customers, so focus on your true audience!
Would you want to hire an SEO Company located on Long Island, NY based on the following text, or would you prefer a more compelling, “natural” tone and style of writing that focused on what differentiates the company and what they do best?
“SEO Company Long Island provides top Long Island SEO. Our Long Island SEO Experts understand Long Island SEO strategies that work….” and so on… create a Google Alert (www.google.com/alerts) for “Long Island SEO” and you will often see these “spammy” keyword strategies used in content spread across the internet.
SEO Takeaway: There is not an ideal number of times to repeat a keyword on a web page. However the keyword should be in the Page Title at minimum and in your page text so that people know what the page is going to be about! You should mention they keyword as many times as it makes sense to your readers to get your marketing message across and clearly explain your offerings. Your SEO strategy should also include gaining off-page links on quality, authority websites relevant to your business to get results. The links should include your keywords (we will discuss “anchor text” further in the future) and variations of your keywords.
FINAL NOTE: Remember, SEO can be a moving target. Algorithms change and what worked a while back may no longer be effective. Sometimes an SEO strategy is a myth because it used to work and does not anymore. Other times, the concept is just ineffective or can actually harm your website rankings. Keep up to date with us here to stay on top of things.
If you have come across any SEO strategies and think they might be myths, send us a message below (or email info@upsidebusiness.com) and we will shed some light on them here…Don’t be shy!