Digital Marketing Analytics: Driving Hotel Success (2016 May report)
SEO Myths - how damaging by Chris Green
1. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
SEMrush Webinar
2. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
There are many
misconceptions in
SEO
3. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
There are many
misconceptions in
SEO
4. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
There are many
misconceptions in
SEO
5. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
There are many
misconceptions in
SEO
6. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
There are many
misconceptions in
SEO
7. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
There are many
misconceptions in
SEO
8. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
There are many
misconceptions in
SEO
9. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
There are many
misconceptions in
SEO
10. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Because there are
no real concrete
“rules”
11. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Just what we think
we know
12. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Some is pretty
much agreed-upon
13. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Some is sketchy-but
well meaning
14. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Some are flat-out
wrong/lying
15. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
But where do these
come from?
We’re not all bad are we?
16. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Misunderstanding
17. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
“Good Google PSI score =
ranking better”
18. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Out of date
knowledge
19. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
“301’s lose PageRank”
https://searchengineland.com/google-no-pagerank-dilution-using-301-302-30x-redirects-anymore-254608
20. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Paranoia
21. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
“Linking to Google can
help bypass linking
Penalties”
22. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
There are so many
to count
Here are my top 5
23. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
#1 SEO Is Something You
Can Finish
24. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
6 months later, it
starts going wrong
26. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Where did this
come from?
27. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Anyone who
doesn’t understand
SEO
28. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Or begrudges
paying when they
don’t understand it
29. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
There are so many
reasons why this is
wrong
30. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
1) Competition
doesn’t stand still
31. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
2) Google always
refines/changes
32. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
3) User behaviour
changes
33. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
4) And… people
screw their
websites
34. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
How do we fix it?
35. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Awareness
Changin’ Minds
36. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Awareness
Policing
Changin’ Minds
37. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Awareness
Policing
Strategy
Changin’ Minds
38. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Awareness
Policing
Strategy
Buy-in
Changin’ Minds
39. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
And how much you
rely on organic.
40. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
If your business
NEEDS Google
41. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
You. Always. Need.
SEO.
42. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
#2 Just give people what
they want - Google’ll do
the rest
43. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Where does this
come from?
45. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Google - they
have a lot of the
blame
47. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
But a lot of
people want to
believe it
48. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
But Dave Naylor
said it best when
he said
49. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
“If Tech SEO isn’t
needed, why does the
canonical tag exist?”
(paraphrased by me)
50. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
All CMS can be
‘unfriendly’ out of
the box
51. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Google doesn’t
“see” content as
we do
53. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
It measures
proxies of site
quality - not
quality itself
54. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
We can’t leave this
to chance
we need SEO!
55. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
#3 Code/Content Ratio is
important
56. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Otherwise known
as the potentially
epic time-waster
57. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
“The higher your
code to content
ratio is, the worse
your SEO is”
59. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Maybe suggestive
of code bloat
60. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Maybe suggestive
of a slow page
61. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Maybe suggestive
of bad code
63. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
BUT!
64. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Could be a short
page
65. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Could be SVG
67. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Could be large
navigation
69. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Could be using
schema markup
71. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
What damage
could be done in
optimising here?
72. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Worse-still, this can
be expensive to
optimise for
73. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
If you’re addressing
this the rest of your
site better be 100%!
74. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Ensure you have
clean, compliant
code - then move
on!
75. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
#4 Optimising for
RankBrain
76. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
The newest thing
we need to
optimise for?
77. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Learn how it
works, then we
can rank better ...
79. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Where did this
one come from?
80. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
A new Hummingbird,
Penguin, or Panda
81. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Rankbrain is
smarter than you
think
82. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
https://searchengineland.com/5-ways-seo-experts-say-optimize-rankbrain-273458
83. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
It refines search
results based on
context
84. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Optimising for a
ML algorithm fed
by personalised
data
86. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
But you don’t
know/can’t
control that
87. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
RankBrain
optimises for you
(the user)
88. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
What we can
optimise for...
89. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
On-site (tech)
Off-site (links)
Content
90. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
#5 Google Uses LSI
91. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
This one started me
off in this whole
process - thanks
Bill!
93. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Latent Semantic
Indexing (LSI) role
within Google?
94. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Spoilers: there are
none
95. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Which to be clear -
is widely debunked/
disregarded
97. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
It’s relatively old
98. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
It interprets the
strength of word
relationships
99. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
However, a close
proximity doesn’t
mean a useful
relationship
100. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
So, why do people
think this is a thing?
101. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Industry-leading
sites are telling us
they are
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/what-is-latent-semantic-indexing-why-does-it-matter-for-your-seo-strategy
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/what-is-latent-semantic-indexing-seo-defined/21642/
102. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
There is no
evidence of this,
whatsoever
103. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Why is this
damaging?
104. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
If you’re basing your
entire content
strategy on LSI…
105. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
… you’re optimising
for totally the
wrong thing.
106. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Optimising for old
tech is daft
107. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
108. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Just answer the
question/query in
the way it’s being
searched for
109. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
So What Can We do?
110. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Don’t believe
everything you
hear
111. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Understand you
don’t have all the
answers either
112. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
Avoid gimmicks
113. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Don’t tar all SEO
with the same
brush
114. The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
@chrisgreen87
strategiq.co
The Most Damaging SEO Myths
8th Feb 2018
Thank you.