Our next few posts will dispel a number of SEO myths that have been plaguing our efforts to teach and educate America to have a transparent and clear understanding of what SEO is really all about. Additionally, let me also take a moment to encourage you to pick up the phone, and ask one of our search engine optimization experts about anything here, or anything else you might have heard regarding search engine optimization.
• Meta tags will boost your rankings.
You may want to take notice at the fact that we did not write here, that ALL meta-tags are a waste of time. I will say though, that meta-descriptions (not meta-keywords) are a complete waste of time. Meta descriptions are still worthwhile, even though they won’t really improve your rankings. The main point of using them is that they can often influence the snippet that’s illustrated as part of your Google listing. If you’re interested in improving your overall position, there are other much more pointed and targeted methods that our web design and search engine optimization experts can help you with.
• Having country-specific sites creates “duplicate content” issues in Google.
One caveat important to remember for this SEO rule, is that Google is much more likely to swallow this well when the domain is set up on a ccTLD or if it’s been set up using Google Webmaster Tools under a common folder that allows for the webmaster to set the country specification. Our search engine optimization team can examine the architecture of your site creating a web design or foundation that will help you to avoid the ‘dupilicate content issues’ and still take into account the rules and foundations needed to score well, not only on Google, but the other major engines as well.
• It’s important for your rankings that you update your home page frequently (ie: weekly, or even daily)
It is certainly understood at this point, that Google has become quite sophisticated, and can in fact examine the page and determine if it has the same 4 stagnant pages as always (home, about us, contact us, prices) or whether it has updating or changing content, like a blog or regularly updated homepage. At New Pulse Management, we do feel that freshness is mildly helpful but generally is not a required pillar of your SEO foundation to maintain a high page ranking. Particularly if you have strong domain authority, you can maintain a top position in Google for a very long time without updating the page content. There are many articles which are constantly ranking on the first page, or even number one for their specific content, even though the article once posted, is unchanged for years, and probably never will change. If you’re not sure what needs to be updated, and what can remain constant, ask one of our web design specialists about your sites foundation, or check in with one of our search engine optimization experts for their views on what you should do to increase your position, or how one of our search engine optimization promotions can help. Although in most cases, how current your data is, doesn’t really make a big difference in your overall ranking, it is an important factor to examine, as it can in many instances make a difference. It usually becomes mildly important in cases where
you’ve done everything correctly in the first place, but competition becomes a huge factor. If your industry is insanely competitive, it’s a good philosophy to at least examine.
