by Mouhcine Azizoun

Created on: September 21, 2010   Last Updated: April 13, 2011

Myths are always born with every new product or service and they are hard to dispel even if you disprove them.  The organic SEO arena has its own myths and facts.  Organic SEO or search engine optimization refers to all free tactics implemented to improve websites rankings.  Webmasters must differentiate between organic SEO myths and facts to successfully increase visibility on the search engine result pages (SERPs).  In this article, I am going to demystify some organic SEO myths.

♦  Myth #1:  SEO is the only method available for increasing exposure on search engines.

Fact: SEO is only a part of Search Engine Marketing (SEM).  Wikipedia defines SEM as: “a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) through the use of search engine optimization, paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion”.  There are other methods beside SEO like paid placement (Pay Per Click advertising), contextual advertising and paid inclusion (sponsored listings) that help you drive traffic.

♦  Myth #2: Pay Per Click hurts your ranking.

Fact: PPC is a form of advertising in which advertisers pay when their ads are clicked.  PPC is one way to get listed for the keywords you choose and it is not free.  SEO is another way to get listed for the keywords you choose and it is free.  Some people believe that you can either choose paid or unpaid methods.  The truth is that you can use both of them.

♦  Myth #3:  SEO is a one-time activity.

Fact: search engines rankings are not eternal.  If you have a website about ‘graphic design’ listed on search engine page one, it will not be there forever.  If this was the case, a new website about ‘graphic design’ would never stand a chance to be number one on page one.  To maintain the competitiveness in the e-business world and therefore ensure the quality of web pages, rankings change constantly. This is why SEO is not a one-time activity but an ongoing process.

♦  Myth #4: high ranking is everything.

Fact: high ranking is good.  It can drive huge web traffic to your website.  But if you have low conversion rate, your website is worthless.  In other words, if you cannot convert the visitors you get into buyers, subscribers or clients, the traffic you generate is useless.  

There are other

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