1. Myth: A keyword density of 4% will help optimize content.
Truth: This may have worked a decade ago, but search engines are smart enough to detect patterns in a site’s content. This doesn’t mean that when writing content for your site, you should no longer think about your keywords. It is still crucial to include a considerable number of keywords that would appear naturally, but make sure not to follow in kind of pattern overall. There is no exact percentage to follow when it comes to keyword density. It is more helpful to focus more on relevancy rather than density.

2. Myth: Links from authority sites will boost your ranking and help your reputation.

Truth: Linking sites to authority sites like Wikipedia or other trusted sites in a niche will not give you extra credit points for your reputation. It does not automatically boost your ranking as well. Although, it is good to link to a variety of authority sites, but this not equate to a higher ranking.

3. Myth: A higher Page Rank will guarantee a higher ranking.

Truth: Google’s Page Rank is mainly used for link analysis and is an indicator how popular a site is and its authority. Page Rank is not directly related to your ranking in SERPs (Search Engine Page Results). So a site with a lower PR can still rank better compared to a site with a high PR.

4. Myth: The only way to get indexed is to submit your site directly to search engines.

Truth: There are a lot of ways in order for your site to get indexed.  However, submitting your new site to search engines is a good SEO practice.

5. Myth: Nofollow incoming links are useless.

Truth: Nofollow links are links that search engines do not include or do not “follow” when they’re crawling the web. Because of this reasoning, nofollow links are considered useless. However, Google has its own way of determining whether a nofollow link is considered relevant or not. So all in all, quality and relevant nofollow links can still do some good for your site.

6. Myth:  Search Engines are against SEO and will penalize your site.

Truth:  Search engines are definitely not against the process of Search Engine Optimization. In fact, Google promotes SEO and even provides information and tools to webmasters. As long as you practice White Hat SEO strategies as per Google guidelines than you don’t have to worry about search engines penalizing your site.

7. Myth:  SEO means optimizing only for Google.

Truth: It’s undeniable that Google is the most popular and most dominant search engine. About 70% of all searches are done in Google. However, this does not mean to concentrate your SEO efforts solely in Google. Algorithms and the rules of search engines change all the time. It is wiser not to put all your eggs in one basket.

8. Myth: SEO is a one-time deal.

Truth: Life would be a lot easier if this is true, but it would also be boring. Optimizing your site is a never-ending process which involves continuous efforts. If you work in optimizing your site for a month, and then stop after that, then you will not go very far. There a lot of things that changes every day in the field of SEO. Keeping up-to-date and implanting new techniques and keeping the old ones that work, will give you better results in the long run.

At the end of the day “Content is King” and in fact frequent relevant content on your website is King, all Google and other search engine want is the best user experience for their users and as long as you are thinking of your users first and providing as much value as you can to them than using some of the SEO strategies will definitely help with your search engine rankings.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It’s a process to rank the websites higher in organic search engine rankings.

I use and recommend only using white hat SEO strategies as per Google‘s guidelines. You can read the guidelines by click here.