Darren Franks - November 9, 2010
Here is a list of five myths about Search Engine Optimization (in no particular order):
- Reciprocal Linking is great!
Google frowns upon any kind of “link exchange” with other websites when it comes to getting better rankings. Cultivate links by having a really good website and attempting to get one way links from authority or “hub” sites in the field. - A high Google PageRank score directly correlates to high rankings.
While PageRank does indicate to Google the amount of quality links pointing to your site and there is a 0-10 score associated with it, it is not the “be all and end all” when it comes to ranking. Sites with a low PageRank score can still rank very well for certain keywords if factors like on-page content are well optimized. - Outbound links really help.
Too many links pointing to other websites can actually hurt you, as this will dilute your own PageRank. - The text in my Description Meta Tag will always be used as the Google snippet.
If the Description is well written and relevant and unique to the page on which it is found, Google will most likely use it. Otherwise, it will use the Description from DMOZ or pull it from the page content. - Don’t ever use Flash!
For any content you want to use as a target for search, it probably isn’t a good idea to use Flash technology. You should also never really use it for navigational elements, but you can use it for images and graphics on your site sparingly (too much Flash may slow the site down).
