SEO has taken the world of 2020 by storm, as this industry continued to grow despite the weakening global economy. The way it works is not exactly magical, as it has a straightforward equation in the mix. All it takes is well-created content, the right keywords, and a few other simple additions to make a more powerful domain. 

Despite the whole process being quite simple, many myths shroud how SEO works and functions. SEO is no longer what it was like years ago, as each Google update boosts its algorithm and how it works. Old-age techniques are no longer applicable today, and there are newer techniques that have taken their place. Here are some misconceptions that people still have about SEO coming into 2021:

Google Needs to Professionally Review Your Site

In the early days, SEO required a webmaster to submit websites manually to various search engines to ensure these exist. A process of running search engine bots was then run to find out how to rank these pages. Google now discontinued its public submission tool in mid-2018, so any emails or offers you get for placement guarantees are false claims. 

While you might think an SEO company is scamming you, this isn’t the case. These agencies might actually help you more with top-quality content and keyword research that can trigger the Google algorithm positively, which will boost your website’s ranking subsequently. You just have to be sure that you’re submitting well-made blog posts or articles and that your site is well-designed for better scores. 

Recycling Content Is Acceptable

Early in the 21st century, copying content found online and publishing duplicated content worked for SEO. While this was a lazy and uncreative way to increase rankings, it definitely worked along with keyword spamming. Nowadays, Google’s algorithm will weed out any content that looks plagiarised or copy-pasted. The algorithm will also look at sites that have spammed keywords to trigger a better search engine results page and flag these content pieces. 

Without uniquely created content, your rankings will not increase, which may even damage your site’s SEO scores. Google’s algorithm is brilliant and will sniff out most content regurgitated by webpages, so don’t go trying to fool it. 

Links Are Links

Many people think that linking many sites into their created content will boost their credibility and visibility. However, Google’s Penguin algorithm update gave the search engine the ability to sniff out low-quality links from websites with equally low quality. Choosing links for statistics that go to websites with .gov or .edu will often give your content better credibility thanks to these websites’ rankings on Google. 

Not all links you choose to backlink are going to boost your rankings. Some might even damage the ability to rank, so choose wisely and be sure that they are trustworthy sources. 

Long Titles Improve SEO Scores

Lengthy titles can damage your content’s rankings, and this is a common mistake made when trying SEO for the first time. On a Google results page, titles typically only run for about 50 to 70 characters on the screen. When you can’t get your message across in a few letters, it is difficult for people to click your content because they aren’t sure about what they’ll find. 

The shorter your titles are, the more likely visitors will click because it shows them what they want to see. If you want an even more powerful title, add keywords into the first few characters. This existence of keywords will make it even easier for people to find what they are looking for in a search. 

Conclusion

There are still plenty of misconceptions people have about SEO, which is expected because of how the industry is still growing. However, doing more research on the topic will save plenty of time and resources. Overall, being well-informed about the ins and outs of SEO can help you produce top-quality content off the bat, and this is where business growth comes into the picture. 

Minotaur Digital is the best digital marketing agency in Sussex, with powerful and cutting-edge web design, search engine optimisation, and social media management. With our perfected trinity of digital marketing, you cannot go wrong with our methods and plans of action to get your business the growth it deserves. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you grow your website’s rankings.