Due to frequent modifications in search engine algorithms, webstore owners are faced with the challenge of keeping up to date, adapting their SEO strategy accordingly, and solving for any reduction in organic traffic. Since SEO has changed so much in the past few years, eCommerce marketers might not be sure what is outdated and will welcome these seven myths on SEO to leave behind in this first quarter of 2020:
- Good user experience is an added bonus
It is important to remember that Google isn’t a public service; quite the contrary, it’s a very lucrative business. If it sends you to a webpage, it wants to make sure you have a good experience on that page, just as any business wants to deliver a more than adequate customer experience to secure loyalty. To improve your website’s user experience, you’ll want to focus beyond crucial KPIs that Maximize eCommerce success, such as conversion rates. In this case, it will be important to also consider page load time, bounce rate, time on page, page views per visit, and how far a person scrolls down the page.
- The age of my domain will help me rank
According to Google Webmasters[1], domain age is a pretty insignificant factor, especially after a site has been around for two or three months. However, since new sites contain little content and significant time is needed to build up valuable content to be indexed, it is better to buy the domain and launch it as a “coming soon” page while you develop it out. Moreover, choosing the right eCommerce platform is a determinant factor for the speed of your go to market.
- Keywords matter more than anything
Today, search engine algorithms are able to understand how ideas relate. They use natural language processing and weigh site expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness to deliver more relevant results. Creating pages around keywords that are too similar confuses their crawlers — the opposite effect your content should have.
Instead of obsessing over keywords, explore a topic cluster strategy by focusing on curated content. Moreover, in order to conquer niche markets, personalized marketing and offerings are ways to take further your content curation.
- Pop-ups will always hurt my ranking in search
Google doesn’t penalize all pop-ups, just the ones that get in the way of a user’s ability to easily access the content on the page. This is especially true for the ones that appear on mobile due to their disruptiveness on a significantly lower screen space.
- Local SEO doesn’t matter
If you’re a local business, optimizing for local search won’t only help you get found, but it will help you get found by people who are nearby, and thus more likely to buy from you, as eCommerce sales are increasingly driving in-store traffic.
- I only need traffic from Google to be successful
To start, traffic from other sources, including other search engines, will send a signal to Google that there is interest for your page. Moreover, each webpage that ranks higher than yours and links back to you is considered a vote for your website, which makes your content more trustworthy in the eyes of Google. Garnering the power of SEO can help you make omnichannel marketing wins. Indeed, coordinating with your PR and Paid Search efforts, Google will see your content as more adequate to what your potential customers’ are looking for. Traffic from places other than Google is crucial to your search rankings.
- Low-volume keywords aren’t worth pursuing
It might be counter-intuitive to think that high-volume keywords will yield less result… Indeed, keywords based on volume might have a negative impact on other metrics, like conversion rate. On the other hand, low-volume keywords might not bring as much traffic, but can offer more intent. In the same line of thought as catering to a niche market under the 3rd point, more niche volume might ultimately result in more qualified traffic and conversions. Best practice remains to aim for a balance.
[1] How does Google determine domain age, and is it important for ranking?
