5 Myths SEO Pros Want You to Believe

Odds are that your business is stuck, relying on some SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or website development firm that has filled your head with some popular myths to scare you away from optimizing your own website.

Let’s take a look at these myths and debunk them!

SEO Myth #1 — You’re Not Good Enough

Many SEO pros want you to believe that they have some kind of unique knowledge that you do not have access to.  It’s out of your reach. To get real search engine rankings, traffic to your website, visitors that take action, and real results, you have to sacrifice some small white rodents to the SEO gods. Add onto that years of experience and intimate knowledge of how Google works, and then you might stand a chance.

The reality is that SEO can be learned. There are fundamentals that apply. As long as you follow a clear set of rules you can do quite well. You just might need someone to show you what to do the first time. (Of course, they don’t want to show you these things, but I will.)

The reason this myth remains is, in large part, because it works hand-in-hand with myth #2.

SEO Myth #2 — SEO Is Confusing

How do you know what will work and what doesn’t? What will get your site banned from the search engines all together? What will make Google love your site? You don’t know the answers to these things, do you? Well then, odds are you could really mess things up. You don’t want to mess things up, right? So you better hire an SEO professional to take care of these things for you.

Once again, the answer is the same as for myth #1. You, or someone in your business, can learn all that is needed to properly optimize your own website. The only way you can mess things up so bad that your site gets banned is if you try to take shortcuts and cheat the system. Performing all of the basic steps can only have positive benefits.

SEO Myth #3 — You Need Special Technical Skills

The internet is full of all these mysterious things that require advanced training on the order of brain surgery and rocket science. If you want to get your website seen in the search engines you have to have a plethora of technical skills to get it all done.

Of course this is a pile of hooey! Sure, a few years back you had to have some technical skills to put up a website or make changes. And, depending on how your website was created, you still might need someone else to change it. But that doesn’t mean you need any technical skills to get your SEO in place. Much of it can be handled by anyone who can use an internet browser. For changes to your own site that you cannot make yourself, you can instruct your web developers to take of it. (And you can tell them exactly what you need so that you only paying for a little time.)

SEO Myth #4 — You Need Complex, Expensive Tools

SEO companies use a variety of software tools that you don’t have. You’re going to need some of these tools if you ever want to get your site seen in the search results. Not only will these tools set you back a bundle, but you’ll face a huge learning curve. How are you ever going to get good enough with this software to be worthwhile?

It seems logical, doesn’t it? Every industry has their set of tools. SEO is the same, but it’s not necessary to get expensive tools or complicated ones. Everything you can do to boost your site in the search results you can do manually if you have some simple instructions. Then when you understand the manual process you can find some tools that will make your job easier.

SEO Myth #5 — Methods Change All the Time

When you start working on your SEO are you spending your time with what works today, or with what worked 3 years ago?

SEO companies can use this as a final tactic because everyone knows that internet technology keeps changing. And they know you don’t keep up with all the changes.  It’s easy for them to scare you this way. Plus you probably have heard stories about someone who tried to do something themselves and really messed up, getting penalized by Google (playing into myth #2).

The interesting thing is that the best things to do 3 years ago are still the best things to do today. It’s the tricks that change all the time. Get caught performing some old black-hat SEO methods and your site could pay the price. But follow the best practices and it’s no problem at all.

The Bottom Line

These 5 myths are reasons you might hear that could discourage you from doing any website promotion yourself. And that’s good for the SEO pros. Why? Because if you believe all this stuff, you’ll keep sending them your money.

You won’t like it, but you’ll think that hiring someone to get your website seen in the search results is your only option. That’s just not the case. You can easily master the fundamentals within your business and then you can stop paying those SEO firms.