The 10 biggest lies about SEO and Websites

1. You do not need to know html to have a good website

Websites that are made are maintained without knowledge of html are passed left and right by sites that know what they are doing. Knowing your html will give you a large advantage over sites that do now. There are many websites sold with the promise that they can be maintained knowledge of HTML. This might be true but the options usually are minimal and important parts of a website are generated automatically and are beyond the control of the webmaster. for example the underlying structure of links, folders, internal references etc are not easy to maintain.

2. Company X ensures high positions in search engines

Only search engines determine the position of a site in the results. The rules of most search engines change several times a month. A search engine optimization company can help a website to optimize on desired keywords. It can help to structure a website. It may help to build links and it can help determine all the weaknesses on a web site. This generally ensures that a site ranks higher in search engines but there are never guarantees.

3. Advertising is a great way to get more customers and revenue

A good site will (over time and with some effort) always be found! If as site is not found without advertising, there is probably something wrong with the website or the strategy. If there are customers on the website but earnings are low there is also probably something wrong with the site. Perhaps the site lacks the connection with the customers or the site is not informative enough. The site may be unclear or take too long to respond. The order process may be too difficult or long. In this case it makes no sense for a large advertising budget to lead visitors to your page while the underlying reason that the page does not perform still exists.

4. You do not have to worry about your hosting provider

Most hosters have their servers set up to optimally configured for their own interest. That is not always in the interest of the customer. Many shared hosting providers (identified by their hosting packages) just try to puy many customers on one server as they can. Their server response is ofter set to a catch all default. A good server however is set up to serve a correct response to different types of requests. Pages of text are not allowed to be stored locally but images, style sheets and javascript files should be cached locally. A correct server response should be different for those file-types. A correct server response may cause a speed improvement of 300%! That can make a difference between a popular site and a not so popular site.

5. A good layout makes your site easier to find

Layout has no direct effect on your search engine results. Search engines ignore layout when indexing a website but focus on the content and descriptions. It is true that a good layout can provide a better user experience which in turn can result in more links to a website. It is very important in a good design to have enough room for good content and not to just focus on eye candy.

6. Social media like Facebook and Twitter will help you get more visitors

It is true that social media like facebook and twitter may help a website get more visitors but the reality is often different. Much energy, time and a good social marketing campaign is needed before social media can be effective. Sometimes it is more effective not to bother with social media but focus on the quality of your website. Once the website is in order and there is a good social media strategy social media can be effective !

7. More visitors means more conversion

A good website has a good connection to it's target audience. Writing popular articles or advertising on popular pages may attract manu visitors but if there is no connection between the visitors and the page they will leave just as quickly! So make sure that articles and advertising etc target the right audience.

8. Meta tags help improve the ranking of a page

The meta tags of a site are becoming less important as search engines grow a better understanding of the web. Meta tags are just no longer needed. The meta keywords tag is almost useless in google and the meta description is only important because it is displayed alongside search results.

9. You need to submit your site to search engines and directories

There are many (paid) options to submit your site to multiple search engines and directories. Do not buy it ! Search engines find your site once there are links to it. With good links and good content your site will do better and better search engine results.

10. Optimization is difficult and takes time and money

Website optimization can indeed be a lot of work but not if you start doing it properly right now. Make sure when you create or modify a page, the page just right. Tell a good story that matches your target audience. Do not make mistakes in the html and use the elements for which they are intended. The web is full of HTML optimization tips and tutorials (including this site). Not every tip is as important or good but overall the tips and tutorials are easy to follow and make good sense. Take a moment to find out about html and SEO that is an investment that pays itself back!