Should your business be proactive about investing in SEO? As digital marketers, Dreamscape Marketing finds this question strange… as strange as asking if you should be proactive about eating food and drinking water. Both questions are about survival. You can’t survive without food and water, and your website can’t survive without an effective SEO plan. That means you can’t buy into SEO myths.

Be warned. Plenty of SEOs out there will promise you the moon and the stars and massively increased website traffic. Most of them wind up taking your money and getting back few, if any, results that add to your bottom line. For example, just racking up website views doesn’t mean much if all of that traffic isn’t actually buying your product or service.

Working with an SEO that has knowledge and experience is essential if you expect bankable results. Dreamscape Marketing is one of the relatively few SEO agencies in the country to be awarded the designation of Google Premier Partner. That designation requires at least two of our team members to be Google-certified. To our minds, that’s a pretty low bar. Why? Because Dreamscape Marketing has more than 30 Google-certified team members.

5 SEO Myths You Should Never Believe

We don’t hear these statements from most prospective clients. Unfortunately, they come up more often than we’d prefer. Here they are (in no particular order):

Myth #1: SEO Doesn’t Really Work

Done incorrectly, that’s actually true. However, let’s be clear about what we mean by “doesn’t really work.” A digital marketing firm that says nothing more to you than, “We increased your web traffic last month, now give us lots of money!” isn’t a company offering you a comprehensive SEO strategy.

An SEO with a proven track record has much to offer to its clients. There are many tools in the SEO “tool box,” including two invaluable ones:

• Diligent keyword research: Using just any keywords in content doesn’t work. They have to be the right keywords. In other words, the ones people are actually searching for. That takes careful research by SEO experts.
• Useful, relevant content that people actually want to read: You need to generate fresh content on a regular basis. However, it needs to be both uniformly excellent and exactly what viewers are looking for. That’s how you attract people on your website and keep them there. Well-written content also motivates them to take the next step.

Myth #2: It Takes Forever to Get Results

If you’re looking for concrete results in a week, yeah, you’re going to be disappointed with SEO. However, that’s not how it works. Well-crafted SEO does deliver results, just not overnight. In fact, you should be very concerned if an SEO does offer overnight results. That’s a good sign they’re using unethical or “spammy” techniques. In short, people you shouldn’t be working with. 

A good SEO strategy is about sustainability over the long term. After all, if you want fast results, you can always do paid media. You can, and often should, engage in per-per-click campaigns. However, that gets expensive over time. 

What you really want are outstanding organic search results. That’s where SEO comes in. An effective SEO strategy delivers results that steadily improve as the weeks and months pass. Once that happens, it’s like a train that isn’t easily stopped.

Always view SEO as an investment. Like any real investment, nothing happens quickly because it’s all about steady growth. Remember that the real goal goes beyond Google ranking alone. You’re also trying to build better brand awareness and increase your website’s authority. The more authoritative your website is, the less likely it is that other websites can topple your ranking.

Myth #3. Why Bother? We’re Never Going To Get Front-Page Results

With an ineffective SEO strategy built on all the wrong keywords, that’s definitely true.

Let’s say, for example, that you’re an addiction treatment center and you decided to try ranking for “drug rehab.” How would that go?

• There’s no way you’re ever going to rank for “drug rehab.” This is one of the biggest SEO myths. You’re facing way too much competition for that keyword. In addition, prominent authoritative websites have already had that desirable term locked up tight for a long time.
• A generic term like “drug rehab” isn’t even that useful. Most addiction treatment centers focus on certain types of addiction treatment, such as heroin addiction. A generalized term like “drug rehab” won’t help them connect with their most likely target audience.
• A better strategy would be going for that specialized treatment, such as “heroin rehab.” You also might want to focus on your location. Since the pandemic, local SEO has become supremely important.

A reputable, ethical digital marketing agency can help you develop an SEO strategy that revolves around themed keywords so that you can attract more qualified leads. In the end, getting qualified leads should always be the biggest objective with any SEO strategy.

• Use more long-tail keywords because they’re more descriptive and more specific. That’s a critical strategy for getting qualified leads. Doing so might actually get you those first-page results you’re looking for.
• More qualified leads coming to your website greatly increases the chances that they’ll step the next step and contact you.

Myth #4: It’s Cheaper To Just Do SEO In-House

This is not wrong… assuming you’ve hired a full team of highly qualified SEO experts to get the job done.

How aggressive is your growth plan? The higher the goal, the harder it gets to achieve with in-house team members. This is especially true if the professional experience of those team members is no match for an outside digital marketing firm.

Do you have everything you need? Making an SEO strategy happen requires a lot of moving parts. We’re talking about serious investments in technology and training. That involves time and money. Remember that if in-house SEO worked that well, there would never be a need for digital marketing firms.

A reputable digital marketing firm brings a lot to the table. Things like proprietary technology and data, research teams and AI-driven tools. This is stuff an in-house SEO probably can’t handle on its own without spending a fortune. How do SEO myths like DIY sound now?

Myth #5. You Never Know What Results You’re Going to Get With SEO

Well, that depends on who you ask. It’s true that search engine algorithms and consumer preferences change constantly. Technologies evolve… seemingly overnight. Staying ahead of the curve has never been harder. In an ever-shifting environment, can you really keep up with what’s going on?

Although no one has a crystal ball that can show the future, good SEOs can certainly predict it. How do they do that? By collecting data and analyzing it… by examining search trends and knowing when it’s time to stay the course or pivot toward new strategies.

To Do SEO Or Not Do SEO? That Shouldn’t Be a Question

Every successful business today has a successful website. All successful websites have an effective, results-oriented SEO strategy behind it. SEO myths have no place in a successful digital marketing strategy.

No company needs quick fixes or over-the-top promises. You want a return on your investment. Verifiable results should always be the goal. That may seem like a simple objective but not every SEO can give that to you.

To learn more about how Dreamscape Marketing can help you realize your website objectives, contact us today at 888.307.7304. Our knowledgeable SEO experts can deliver the results you’re looking for.