When you jump into the world of SEO, it can feel as though a lot is thrown at you at once. Not only do you have colleagues giving you, at times, conflicting information but there’s also the Google beast that needs tackling. Fortunately, though, Google has taken strides in making sure people know how to get the most out of their SEO efforts. So, with that notion in mind, let’s go over a few SEO myths a lot of people take to be fact.
Google Only Has 3 Top Ranking Factors
In 2016 it was announced that content, links, and RankBrain were Google’s top three ranking factors. This caused a bit of hubbub at the time, but it has since been dismissed. It’s nigh impossible to narrow down the most important ranking factors because what helps you rank changes day in and day out and depends on users’ queries. Focusing on individual ranking factors isn’t much worth your time, either. It’s more important to ensure your site offers a hassle-free user experience and remains up to date with Google’s latest updates.
Duplicate Content Results in a Penalty
Much to contrary belief, your site won’t be penalized due to duplicate content. Google is smart enough to understand that duplicate content is simply a part of the online experience. But, the search engine’s aim is to offer users the best results for their query and that means not giving people the same content in their search results. Unless your site’s sole purpose is to manipulate rankings and is made up entirely of duplicate content, you really don’t have much to worry about. Google won’t penalize your site for having duplicate content.
Google Uses Page Speed as a Ranking Factor
While the speed of your side is ultimately very important, Google will crawl and index pages that take upwards of three minutes to load. Google only uses page speed as a way to distinguish between slow pages and those that fall into a normal loading range. Page speed has been a ranking signal since 2010 but it has not been integrated as a key part of an algorithm. However, page speed can influence your rankings indirectly. If your site is super slow, you’re not exactly giving your users a pleasant experience while on site which may result in a high bounce rate. Page speed may become an integral part of algorithms in the future but, for now, it’s still fairly elementary.
Were you surprised by some of these myths? The SEO world can be confusing enough without false claims thrown in. Do your research and uncover exactly what is influencing your site in search results, without getting bogged down with misinformation. Knowledge truly is power and in the SEO world, knowledge can see you ranking at the tippy top of search results.