6 common SEO misconceptions

At Podium we receive valuable market research every time we attend a networking event or new business meeting, and the recent North East expo was great for getting a feel for how Newcastle businesses view SEO.

It’s less and less common for us to have to explain what ‘search engine optimisation’ is, which is both helpful and, well, sometimes, not very helpful.

In some cases, search has an unfortunately spammy reputation, since a number of companies have experienced poorly managed SEO campaigns. Or, even worse, outdated or misleading ideas of Google’s PageRank algorithm have persisted… all resulting in poor results for organisations.

We’ve rounded up the top myths or misgivings surrounding SEO, many of which we have heard recently.

Podium is not only eager to explain WHY these misunderstandings are harming your business… we’d also love to demonstrate to regional businesses how we can help to boost your Google rankings by fixing these common errors!

1. “I googled it and it was the first result.”

That’s because Google knows you work there and has noticed you visiting the website regularly. Using an in private or incognito browser window will show you much different results.

2. “We don’t need SEO, because our website already comes up first when you Google our business’ name.”

Granted, this is great for your business, and it’s especially great if all of your target audience has already heard of your business, and is interested in your products or services. But what if they haven’t heard of you?

Ranking for a word that you’ve made up (think ‘Google’ or ‘Instagram’) isn’t actually that difficult. Why: what else would people be searching for besides exactly that made up word?

If you’re offering a service, in a specific location, and your target audience isn’t yet aware that you exist, they’re going to search for ‘hoovers Newcastle’ not ‘VaccuUK.’ (Yes, we made that up.) In that case, will your website still be number one? Most likely, no, unless you’ve got a good SEO strategy backing you up.

3. “We get most of our business from referrals or personal connections, so we don’t really need SEO.”

Good for you: you’ve done great business to survive from word-of-mouth – it’s still one of the best forms of winning new business. But is your business growing (as fast as it could be?) Maybe not. Maybe you have a website that doesn’t actually come up first, even when someone Googles your company’s name.

If that sounds crazy, consider this: not only do other businesses bid in Google ads to show up when someone searches for their competitors’ names (your name…) there are also far too many websites that aren’t even optimised enough to display in top Google rankings when someone searches for their business.

Don’t believe us? Read on…

4. “Our brand name is already optimised for search.”

Sometimes this is still true… but Google cracked down on exact domain name matches and this is becoming less and less common.

Previously, if you were selling hoovers in Gosforth, and your business was actually called “Hoovers Gosforth,” you would be more likely to show up in the first few search results for local people performing that Google search. And for established businesses, this may still be true, but start-ups won’t be so lucky.

Plus, competition is growing, and SEO is becoming a higher priority for your competitors. Your competitors, who have optimised their site for the keyword phrase “hoovers Gosforth” are now taking first place above your business name. Yikes.

5. “My company starts with the letter ‘A’ so it comes up first in a search.”

Ouch. Google is not Yell or the phone book. It does not favour alphabetical order. It’s okay, times are changing fast. We would be happy to explain the basics of the Google PageRank algorithm to you and how you need to optimise your website for your services, not your name.

6. “The website was SEO’d when it was made.”

This is generally a good thing: if you’re working with a web development agency that plays by Google rules, you’ve got off to a good start.

Unfortunately, search optimisation isn’t a thing that ‘happens’ and then continues to happen. Not only do search engines’ rules change regularly, they also favour fresh content. If you’ve set up your website and left it to rot, it’s likely getting lost in the back of the fridge.

There are many complexities to the art of ongoing SEO, which Podium specialises in. On top of technical SEO tweaks to your website code and site speed, we also offer content marketing services. Search ratings can increase by generating fresh content for the blog and updating product or service pages regularly (this not only makes Google happy, but also ensures your customers are getting the most up-to-date information about your offerings).

We also create a monthly report that analyses the results of our SEO efforts, and use these figures to suggest and execute changes to your website to constantly signal the right messages to Google.

For example, if we helped you jump from page 3 to the bottom of page one for a desired search term, we then focus on improving your site for that search term for the following month. We’ll centre blog posts on this topic, adjust your website’s back, or secure your company some PR.

Whether you’re someone that we’ve just had this exact chat with, or if SEO is something you tried and it failed, or if you still enter your company’s name into hundreds on ‘online directories’ (please don’t…) we are here to help. Our specialty is SEO, and our other digital marketing services are available to help ensure your target audience is finding out about the amazing things you have on offer.

Get in touch for a free SEO website review, to chat about your current situation, or if you’d simply like to stop by and play table tennis (or beer pong) at our office.