SEO myths keep evolving, leaving marketers wondering if it’s worth investing in organic growth. It also doesn’t help that novice marketers find it difficult to gauge the effectiveness of an SEO strategy on their search engine ranking.
While there is no denying the effectiveness of organic SEO, the fact remains that Google keeps changing the way it ranks websites in SERPs.
But no matter the challenges, marketers explore SEO techniques, study algorithm updates, and create quality content to appease the search engine gods – hoping to rank high against all odds.
Let’s take some time to understand what exactly we mean by organic SEO, the related myths, and why it should be the number one goal for digital marketers.
What is Organic SEO?
Organic search engine optimization (organic SEO) is a method of obtaining a high ranking on the search engine results pages of Google and Bing, among other websites. It’s made possible using multiple strategies and approaches such as keyword-optimized content, back-linking, website design, and high-quality web content.
It is a low-cost investment because instead of paying for expensive ads, you get to invest in excellent content that pays dividends for years to come. Moreover, organic SEO works very well, as evident by the fact that it’s responsible for more than half (53%) of all website visitors.
Therefore, it is vital to make organic SEO strategies a part of your digital marketing campaigns. However, certain myths and misconceptions keep marketers from using organic SEO to the fullest. Let’s explore these in detail.
Organic SEO Myths
As online search engines quickly evolve, their evolution raises numerous rumors and myths about organic SEO strategies and practices. Therefore, it is vital to debunk those myths and learn what works in the organic SEO world.
It’s Important to Submit URLs to Search Engines
There was a time when your website’s URLs would have to be submitted manually to the search engine to be indexed. But that’s no longer the case. If it’s on the internet, Google bots will find it. The only way to keep certain pages from showing up in SERPs is via the ‘noindex’ metatag.
Using Google Sitemap Is Critical For Ranking
You don’t need Google Sitemap if your website is built to be crawler-friendly. Of course, you can use other Google tools, but having a Sitemap will not improve your SEO ranking. In fact, according to Google Search Central, you might not even need a sitemap if your website is small and well-linked internally.
Frequent Website Upgrades Help It Rank Higher
Frequently upgrading your website can increase the search engine crawl rate, but it has zero effect on your SEO ranking. If your site has a perfect design and layout, there is no need to change it.
PPC Ads Affect SEO Ranking
If you think PPC has any positive or negative effect on your organic SEO ranking, you are wrong. PPC ads are paid advertisements entirely unrelated to your organic search engine ranking.
Header Tags Boost Ranking
It is common to believe that using keywords in header tags boosts SEO. However, it mainly depends on your web design and content management. So, it isn’t a 100% reliable organic ranking strategy.
Benefits of Organic SEO
Despite all the myths surrounding organic SEO, applying these strategies is highly beneficial for companies. It is better to use organic SEO strategies as they are free of cost, creating multiple benefits.
Cost-effectiveness
The most apparent benefit of organic SEO is that it offers an unparalleled cost advantage. Of course, you can easily add up the cash spent on click-throughs with paid search ads. But sound SEO principles don’t cost anything; in fact, the cost-per-click for organic traffic is zero. So it only takes a little bit of strategizing, hard work, and diligence to get results with organic SEO.
More Credibility
Businesses that use paid SEO strategies have trouble generating leads because of a lack of credibility. So, when you place ads to rank high on search engines, users see you as a less credible information source, preferring organic links.
Competitive Results
Organic SEO, done right and aggressively, keeps your competitors from rising higher in search results. So, the more you invest in organic SEO strategies, the more difficult it becomes for them to rise in the SERPs.
Organic SEO Strategies For 2022
As stated earlier, search engine guidelines are constantly evolving. This is why SEO experts must integrate the latest requirements into their SEO strategy. That way they have a high chance of ranking higher than their competition on search engines.
Content Optimization
Content optimization is the process of ensuring that all copies, blogs, articles, product descriptions, etc., on your website are written in a way that makes them understandable for people and search engines alike.
First, to optimize content, perform keyword research to find relevant and high-traffic keywords. Then organize them into topic clusters, i.e. groups of closely related keywords.
After this, develop content benchmarks to help determine content length, quality, type, and search intent. Now optimize title, URL, and headlines with keywords and create a meta description with a high click rate.
Finally, insert multimedia files to make content more engaging and ensure keywords are placed correctly and naturally in the content body.
User Experience Optimization
User experience optimization is vital for increasing retention and customer satisfaction level. If user experience optimization is low, businesses lose customers rapidly. To check user experience, identify the user’s steps to complete the desired action. Then analyze behavioral data, including the number of app users, time spent on your app, current churn, and conversion rate.
Voice Search Optimization
Ensure your site is voice-search optimized as 65% of electronic device users use voice search daily, and this number is expected to rise in 2022. Therefore, your web pages must be correctly optimized to appear in voice search results.
The content must be optimized the way people conduct verbal searches, which is similar to how they talk. However, compared to voice searches, people only write specific keywords during written searches. That is why they both need to be optimized differently.
Mobile Optimization
Mobile optimization is updating your website to ensure users visiting your site from mobile phones also have an ideal and engaging experience. If the website is not optimized for mobile phone devices, website options will not align with buttons, creating confusion.
However, before website mobile optimization, check how mobile-friendly your website is currently. It will help you focus on the specific areas that need immediate attention. Then ensure that the website is optimized for smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops.
Another thing to focus on during mobile optimization is the site’s loading speed time since it’s one of the most important SEO factors.
Focus on Search Intent
Search intent is the reason behind search engine queries, so check if your site provides relevant answers or not. Creating content that aligns with search intent improves your search engine ranking. There are four types of search intent:
- Informational: these cover basic and straightforward questions.
- Navigational: in this search intent, users know what they want, such as a website, so they only write the name, and Google navigates them to the correct webpage.
- Transactional: for this search query, the user is already in buying mode and needs to be directed to the correct web page to make a purchase.
- Commercial investigation: in this search, users know what they want but compare the best options by checking reviews and ratings.
So, to insert search intent, your keywords must match the standard terms people use during each search intent.
Leverage YouTube SEO
The YouTube algorithm works similar to Google’s crawlers, collecting and using information about videos. The filename, the title, and the description of your uploaded content are essential in affecting YouTube ranking.
Therefore, your title must be SEO and click-friendly to attract attention instantly. Then, the video description must be highly informative, revealing video content. Finally, it would be best if you customized the video’s thumbnail to entice users.
Moreover, create videos and group them in a video playlist. This will increase user engagement on your channel, ultimately boosting YouTube and Google ranking.