SEO Chatter - The great SEO hoax

There's a lot of confusing information out there about SEO.

Especially now that everyone and their grandmother is a wannabe influencer on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and (gag!) TikTok.

Some people say keywords don't matter.

Others say backlinks are King.

And a few sad souls believe the greatest SEO hoax ever: Google always tells the truth.

Unfortunately, those myths are slowing down progress for ambitious website owners who are eager to rank their content in the SERPs and make the big bucks online.

So today, I want to bust some common SEO myths for you.

That way, you can sort the facts from fiction and learn what actually does work for SEO.

Myth #1: Exact Match Keywords Are Dead

When the Google Hummingbird update was announced in 2013, people started shouting from the rooftops that exact match keywords for SEO were as dead as a doornail.

Hummingbird's role was to make the algorithm less reliant on exact keyword matches and more focused on the semantic understanding of a search query.

While that's true, and you can't merely rank a web page by stuffing it with keywords anymore without matching user search intent, the fact is that exact match keywords are still alive and kicking for on-page SEO.

So don't be fooled by this myth.

I have yet to see a web page not increase a few ranking positions for a secondary keyword that Google's trying to rank it for (as shown in Search Console) that was not being used on the page after it's been included 3-4 times in the content.

Don't believe me? Try it for yourself.

Myth #2: Keywords In the Title Tag Don't Matter

Here's another bad piece of advice you should dismiss like spam in your inbox.

The truth is that keywords in the meta title tag are the #1 ranking on-site factor for SEO. Without putting your primary (and I would argue secondary) keyword in the title tag, you'll have an extremely difficult time ranking for that term.

This makes perfect sense because the title tag is what's displayed in Google's search results for your web page listing.

And why on earth would Google ever rank a page for a competitive keyword in the top 10 positions if it doesn't have the searcher's primary query in the title?

Answer: It wouldn't.

Myth #3: Meta Descriptions Are Not Worth Optimizing

I understand why people are confused about this one.

Google has publicly stated that the meta description is not a ranking factor. And that part is true. Meta descriptions are not a direct ranking factor for SEO.

As a result, many SEO gurus who follow Google's every word parrot this (somewhat false) information saying you shouldn't worry about optimizing the meta descriptions. Instead, you just leave 'em blank.

However, that's a really bad way to do SEO.

Especially if you want to get people to actually click on your web page listing in the search results, which, by the way, is a ranking factor that Google's algorithm takes into consideration when assigning your website's final ranking positions for its target keywords.

What Google and the gurus are not telling you is that using SEO keywords in the meta description is an indirect ranking factor.

The fact is if you put your keywords in the meta description, and the user's query matches one of those keywords, then Google will bold them in your listing if your custom-written meta description is the best choice for the search.

And which listing do you think users would rather click on?

A website that has the keyword bolded in the meta description showing it's highly relevant to the query OR a site that has zero indicators that it's related to your query?

As a Google user yourself, I'm sure you know which version is the clear winner.

Myth #4: Quality Content Is All You Need to Rank

One of the largest SEO myths that has spread like wildfire is that quality content is all you need to rank these days.

They say that writing the most in-depth content on a topic will automatically help you rank higher on Google because you're proving expertise on the subject matter.

And with the sudden rise of AI-generated content, many people assume that's all they need because SEO is (supposedly) baked into the writing that's performed by the machine.

You can believe that all you want, but the truth is quality content must also have good on-page SEO applied to reach its full ranking potential. And, in highly competitive markets, a good set of quality backlinks is also required.

But backlinks don't always rule over every other aspect of SEO, which leads us to our next myth...

Myth #5: Backlinks Are King

Many foolish marketers like to gossip about backlinks being the be-all, it-all, ranking factor for SEO.

They believe that a website's traffic potential hinges solely on its number of backlinks.

While backlinks do play an important role in SEO, they're not THE deciding element for all web pages in the SERPs. Nor are all backlinks as strong as they used to be.

No matter what people tell you (link sellers are the absolute worst at this), backlinks alone do not rank a web page.

In order for a web page to rank high in Google, it must be fully optimized both inside and out, which means having good technical SEO performance, on-page SEO signals, quality content, E-E-A-T (mentioned next), and backlinks.

There are plenty of times I've ranked web pages in the top 3 positions for their target keywords within hours after publishing, and they didn't have a single backlink from another site.

Myth #6: E-E-A-T Is the Most Important Factor Today

E-E‑A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

This concept comes directly from Google's Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines and is all the buzz right now among the SEO community.

However, E-E-A-T, while very important, is not the ultimate deciding factor for ranking in Google's search engine. Heck, I even have a side-project site right now that ranks well for most of its target terms while having the bare minimum standards for E-E-A-T.

But the thing to remember here is this:

If you don't follow the previous tips given so far in this email about improving on-page SEO, creating quality content, having good technical performance, and building backlinks (when needed), then having good E-E-A-T signals on your website is not going to magically save it in the SERPs.

You've got to combine all of that other SEO stuff with E-E-A-T factors such as ensuring your content is accurate and up-to-date, unique details are included on the page, author schema has been added, proof of expertise or experience is clearly demonstrated, sources have been well cited, topical has been established, etc.

Myth #7: More Traffic Is All That Matters

Our final SEO myth that needs to be busted is that organic traffic is all that matters for website success.

There's not a day that goes by where I don't see someone bragging about the sudden spike in traffic that their site got almost overnight. However, those fancy charts can be very misleading.

Here's why:

Traffic doesn't mean jack if it doesn't lead to revenue.

At the end of the day, SEO is all about business. And businesses depend on money to survive. What truly matters is the quality of the traffic you receive from your SEO efforts.

For example, generating 50,000 new organic visits may LOOK amazing on a Google Analytics chart, but that means very little to your business if those visitors come from low-tier countries with poor RPM rates, non one ends up making a purchase, everyone skips your lead generation opt-in form, etc.

Hopefully, this clears up some misconceptions you may have heard about SEO.

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Stephen Hockman
SEO Chatter Founder