Now that SEO has become somewhat of a mainstream topic, business owners seem to think they know how it works just because they know what it is. However, SEO is an extremely complex process and requires constant revision, work, and due diligence to perform such a service properly.

1. Meta Tags are most important.

There are still business owners who seem to think that tagging your website with the proper meta tags is going to make you show up higher on search results. Yes, meta tags are important, but overall meta tags are a very small part of SEO. The meta description is really all that matters for each page, and it is still a minor component relative to all the different factors affecting your SEO rankings.

2. More backlinks will rank me higher.

Having more back-links in general will most likely cause your site to rank higher, but this is not always the case. In fact, if you have lots of low page rank links or links that do not make sense to Google; this could actually downgrade your SEO. Therefore having high quality links is much more important than the amount of links you have going to your website.

3. SEO is easy.

People seem to think that SEO is easy, but simply time consuming and that all they have to do is spend some time working on it and you will move up the rankings. False! SEO is extremely difficult and takes a wide range of skills ranging from technical efficiency such as improving page load time to content creation and graphic design. SEO is a multifaceted discipline and is not easy at all.

4. SEO can be done quickly.

Ten years ago you could spam your website and get tons of backlinks boosting your rankings in days. With Google cracking down on spammers and poor content, there is no effective way to boost rankings quickly. SEO is a long term process, so quit your complaining and be patient, it’s going to take a long, long time.

5. Higher rankings equal more sales.

Higher rankings for the right keywords can bring in more traffic. However, this does not necessarily guarantee more sales, as more traffic can simply not be converting to more sales. If you are getting more traffic from your SEO campaign but you are not seeing an increase in sales, it may be because you need to focus on your conversion rates rather your SEO. You must make sure there are strong calls to action on your website, and that the visitors are coming from good traffic sources leading to sales. In many cases conversion rates can be just as important if not more important than SEO itself.

6. Pay an SEO firm and I will rank higher.

Hiring an SEO firm is a two way relationship. If you want to rank higher organically and hire a firm, you need to work with them to provide them the necessary information to get ranked higher. If they need more content, images, and materials to make your website competitive than you will have to help them with this otherwise you may just be wasting your money.

7. Social Media is more important than SEO.

Now that social media is the new thing, some business owners seem to think that it is more important to have a Facebook business page than it is to rank high for keywords related to their business. Social media can help connect you to your customers but SEO can be far more important for bringing in new sales and customers searching for a business in your industry especially if you are a B2B Company.

8. Lets rank high for everything.

There are many business owners who think that if they work hard enough they will be able to rank for every keyword related to their business. This is a massive undertaking. You will only be able to rank for a certain amount of keywords based on your overall websites content and structure, social media presence, and back linking profile. To rank high for every keyword is nearly impossible especially if you have a small website, therefore it is best to target a smaller number of keywords that have the strongest benefit to your business, and once you rank for them move on to a few more that are realistic given your limited resources. Let’s face it, you’re not amazon, and you are not going to have a massive team of programmers and content contributors to your website so you should focus on the keywords that will have the highest benefit to your business.

9. SEO is not technical.

SEO can be extremely technical. Creating the proper navigation and site architecture is critical for SEO. You have to make sure you have a robots.txt file and other technical details that most people are not aware of. If the SEO Company your work with does not have technical expertise you may be missing out on a big portion of SEO.

10. SEO is a luxury not a necessity.

SEO is a necessity in today’s economy. I do not care how small or big your company is. The fact of the matter is the next economic crash could be just around the corner with the Euro debt crisis, Japan’s debt problem of its own, and all the many other volatile events going on around the world. If you are not ranked high organically for keywords related to your business, you are missing out on hundreds if not thousands of potentials customers each year. This is not something you can afford, even if the stock market is on another rally. We saw a rally in the 90s then 2001 hit, and we saw another rally until 2008 then look what happened. Do not think this time is any different. You are a fool if you think you can survive the next decade of this economy without proper SEO and internet marketing.

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