[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/5-seo-myths-you-may-want-to-know\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/5-seo-myths-you-may-want-to-know\/","headline":"5 SEO Myths You May Want to Know","name":"5 SEO Myths You May Want to Know","description":"So this is my 200th post and I had no clue what to write about.\u00a0 Instead of doing a wow 200 and post wrap up with a ton of links, I decided to just write a normal one since that is what I enjoy most.\u00a0 When trying to think of a topic I decided that […]","datePublished":"2011-08-31","dateModified":"2011-08-31","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/author\/adamriemer\/#Person","name":"Adam Riemer","url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/author\/adamriemer\/","identifier":2,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fda62f751f2a6c2ec2b079fedff69720852e4a65633212ffb11832454c29160a?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fda62f751f2a6c2ec2b079fedff69720852e4a65633212ffb11832454c29160a?s=96&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Adam Riemer Marketing, LLC.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/arm-logo-2.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/arm-logo-2.jpg","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"http:\/\/adamriemer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/bed-bath-and-beyond-site-links2.png","url":"http:\/\/adamriemer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/bed-bath-and-beyond-site-links2.png","height":"433","width":"768"},"url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/5-seo-myths-you-may-want-to-know\/","commentCount":"2","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/5-seo-myths-you-may-want-to-know\/#Comment1","dateCreated":"2011-08-31 09:47:06","description":"Thanks Nancy!  Happy I could help to clarify for some of the newer Affiliates.  Backlinks can be confusing, especially to new people.  Many merchants don't know that their Affiliate links may not count for backlinks for SEO.   Thank you again for reading and commenting!","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Adam","url":""}},{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/5-seo-myths-you-may-want-to-know\/#Comment2","dateCreated":"2011-08-31 09:37:02","description":"Excellent article Adam!  There is too much confusion out there regarding SEO in general and back links in particular and your article does a lot to clarify. I have read newbie affiliates talking about having thousands of back links without any understanding that there are back links and junk links and they are not the same at all as far a being beneficial to your site (or to the world). Thank you!","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Nancy","url":"http:\/\/fashionchecks.com"}}],"about":["SEO"],"wordCount":1155,"keywords":["Search Engine Optimization","SEO","seo myths"],"articleBody":"So this is my 200th post and I had no clue what to write about.\u00a0 Instead of doing a wow 200 and post wrap up with a ton of links, I decided to just write a normal one since that is what I enjoy most.\u00a0 When trying to think of a topic I decided that I am tired of explaining to both clients and other SEO firms a few things common myths and rumors about SEO.\u00a0 Here are 5 of the most common questions I get from clients, other firms and people just entering online marketing.Meta descriptions are not important. False.\u00a0 This is a big false.\u00a0 Not only does Google still show a meta description some of the time in the SERPs when it cannot find a good phrase or paragraph to use, but with the addition of the 30 to 35 characters underneath the site links in the organic SERPs, meta descriptions are more important than ever.\u00a0 You not only have to have good meta descriptions that are unique for every single page, but your meta descriptions now have to be readable, make sense and sell within the first 35 characters.\u00a0 Look at the example below which I pulled from the search term Bed Bath and Beyond.\u00a0 If you look at the organic site links for Bed Bath and Beyond, they created a unique meta description for each page that shows up and each one helps to sell why the person should click on the site link to start out closer to the products that they would want to buy.\u00a0 These descriptions are also the meta tags from each of the pages.\u00a0 You’re meta descriptions are absolutely important to have now, especially because of the added text below your site links showing up in the SERPs.bed bath and beyond site links Affiliate links count as backlinks.This is about 75% false.\u00a0 Affiliate links that come from a network are not backlinks.\u00a0 Think about what a backlink is.\u00a0 A backlink is a link from one site that points directly to a url on your site.\u00a0 Because an Affiliate link from a network usually points to that network’s server and then redirects to the merchant’s site, the backlink would technically be for the server and not for the merchant since it isn’t pointed directly at the merchant’s site.\u00a0 The only times that Affiliate links can count as backlinks is when the merchant is using an in house program where the urls are actually pointing directly at the merchant’s site.\u00a0 The one thing that you have to remember is that there are tracking parameters on most Affiliate links and that the Search Engines (SEs) can see these and do recognize these parameters.\u00a0 Because they have the tracking parameters they may not count the link as extremely valuable because the Search Engine may assume it is either an Affiliate link or it is a media buy or that the Merchant placed it there so it is not a natural link.The more backlinks the better.False.\u00a0 When you have a ton of relevant and good backlinks you can start to outrank other sites.\u00a0 However, the more backlinks that you have isn’t always better for you.\u00a0 It is more about the quality of the links and the mix that you have, as opposed to the volume of backlinks that you have.\u00a0 If all you have are blog comments or forum posts, then you will probably get mapped by the SEs and your rankings will fall overtime.\u00a0 If your site is about blue widgets and you are only concerned with the quantity of backlinks, you probably have links from sites about movies, about cats and food and none of it makes sense to the SEs when they are categorizing your site and content.\u00a0 When the SEs realize this huge random mix, your site will get dinged for categorization because the SE won’t know what the hell the site is about since the mix of backlinks is from a giant mix of topics makes no sense.\u00a0 You want to try to get as many legit backlinks as you can, but also try to have them from sources within your niche or topic.\u00a0 Make sure you categorize your site properly as well and have the links coming from those categories to your categories and pages with relevant content.You have to have keywords in your base url. False.\u00a0 Although it does seem like keyword rich urls make it easier to rank for terms, you do not need them.\u00a0 I am a huge believer in brandable and memorable urls because they can be repeated easily, remembered easily and linked to easily.\u00a0 Although they could potentially be harder to rank in the beginning, they can still rank and even outrank keyword rich sites in the long run.\u00a0 For the folders and extensions off of your base domain, having keywords in the urls is something you will definitely want to have.\u00a0 For the base domain, go with something brandable instead of something hard to remember or that is stuffed with keywords, unless your goal is one time visitors and not repeat customers.I already have a backlink from one site so I don’t need anymore. Half True.\u00a0 Years ago if you had a backlink from a site, you didn’t have to worry about having any more.\u00a0 With Google and other SEs obsessing over what is new, right now and immediate, having new backlinks from authoritative sources and news sites helps to show that your site, your content and your pages are still relevant.\u00a0 Think about the SERPs, they show news feeds, tweets and other things that are happening right now.\u00a0 You also have to remember that the goal of a Search Engine is to show relevant and up to date content.\u00a0 If they don’t show the most relevant and useful content then people stop using it.\u00a0 If your backlinks are 5 years old from a site, even authoritative sites, there is a chance that your content may begin to look outdated.\u00a0 By having new links from new pages and new articles on authority and other sites, it shows that your copy and content is still legit, still something worth linking to and still relevant over time.\u00a0 Although this cannot be proven I definitely think that you need to keep up with building backlinks and also getting more from the same authoritative sites that you already have links from, if your original links from that site are old.Thank you again for reading and I hope you enjoyed my 200th post.\u00a0 If you have any other SEO myths you’d like me to talk about, or you just feel like sharing something, please feel free to leave a comment below.\u00a0 Please also feel free to share your own favorite SEO myth and whether you think it is true or false and why you think it is true or false."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Seo","item":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 SEO Myths You May Want to Know","item":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/5-seo-myths-you-may-want-to-know\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]