Loading ...One of the best and worst things about the SEO industry is how open everyone is with information. It’s one of the best things, because it means that newcomers and regular site owners have access to a wealth of information. This is not true of many technical industries. It’s one of the worst things because a large chunk of the information around the net is misleading, misinformed or outright wrong.
Every site owner needs to be able to spot bad SEO advice. This is something tangential to actual advice on your site’s search engine optimisation, but no less important. History has shown that SEO methods have a limited shelf life. Eventually, the search engines get sick of bad webmasters abusing the system and outlaw techniques that were formerly permissible. Following the wrong advice has got plenty of sites into hot water.
Why you need to be wary
SEO advice can get you into trouble if you’re not careful. The techniques practiced on your site can do as much harm as good. Using an old or frowned-upon technique can get your site penalised by the search engines.
This isn’t the only concern in using the wrong techniques, however. The worst thing about bad information on search engine optimisation is that it won’t get you anywhere. By using bad optimisation methods, you’re also not achieving your goal of a better ranking.
Business instinct doesn’t work for SEO
As search engine optimization is a fairly technical process, it’s impossible to trust your instinct. Some of the standard optimization techniques might sound ludicrous to an absolute beginner, but obvious to an old hand.
For example, your SEO consultant might tell you to put your keyword at the top left-hand corner of your content, in the first sentence, and then scattered in a zig zag pattern down the page. To someone completely unfamiliar with search engine optimization, this sounds like some sort of magic spell. It’s impossible to guess that these positions have been determined to be the better places for keywords, and that studies have found that internet users scan the page in this pattern.
SEO experts are all eager to share their knowledge with the world, which means that topics are constantly rehashed. This doesn’t speak well for the originality of the average SEO writer, but it does provide you with a great set of clues for finding reliable information.
The best way to uncover bad advice is to cross-reference. There is a lot of information on search engine optimisation out there, a lot more than there needs to be. This is to your advantage. The topics that are constantly covered are the ones that are reliable. If you come across an article about a technique that no-one else is using, it’s probably best to put it aside. There’s a reason no other experts are crowing about it.
Use your common sense when it comes to perusing optimisation advice. Always cross-check, and talk to your SEO company when unsure. You can come to us at SEO Consult Australia with any questions.
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Tags: content, Keywords, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, SEO Consult
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