Unfortunately there are as many myths about Google SEO as the death of Elvis. I don’t spend my time researching Elvis sightings and you shouldn’t waste your time with these SEO myths either!

SEO Myth #1: Optimizing for Keyword Misspellings will increase traffic

Google is now very good at correcting spelling mistakes in searches, so although it may be tempting to optimize for spelling errors you won’t get any increased website traffic, and will leave a bad impression with visitors reading your website.

SEO Myth #2: Fill the <Keywords> metatag to boost ranking

The <Keywords> metatag gets no attention from Google, the only thing it does is allow competitors to see the keywords you are trying to rank for.

SEO Myth #3: Links from 100’s of random directories will get you on the first page

Mass submission for backlinks from directory websites that are not relevant to your content, is a huge waste of time and money. There are usually only a few directories around a particular topic that are of high quality, and the majority actually tell Google not to index or follow the links they provide (to discourage spam). Directory sites requiring reciprocal links can be seen as "bad neighbourhoods or spammy and should be avoided.

SEO Myth #4: Using Adsense and Adwords will boost your ranking

Adsense is not related in any way to search engine ranking. Adsense might grow your income but has nothing to do with your search rankings. Adwords will bring more traffic to your site but this will not affect your rankings at all.

SEO Myth #5: 1st place in Google Guaranteed for any keywords

Search engine ranking is a competitive environment, so just as the Collingwood football team can't guarantee another premiership in 2011, SEO professionals can't guarantee a #1 position in Google. This tactic is commonly used buy people deceptively selling adsense campaigns at inflated prices.

SEO Myth #6: Tag Clouds Boost your ranking

To search engines, tag clouds are just a list of links on your website. Large tag clouds can look like keyword stuffing because they have alot of links that may not be relevant to the current page. The "linking power" or pagerank of a web page is limited. Increasing the number of links reduces their value, because the pagerank is divided between them all. Tag clouds dilute the value of important links by increasing the amount of links on a page.

ClickWebDesign services include SEO in Melbourne, with detailed keyword research and reporting to help you measure the return on investment. We bring 1000's of visitors to our client's business websites each month.