Search Engine Ranking Myths Debunked

Practis Blog

As a medical practice or healthcare organization, you’ve most likely gotten a call from a digital marketing company selling you up a river. While the salesperson might be able to talk up the power of online marketing, there are a few common lies that SEO salespeople might tell to get you to agree to a contract.

Myth #1 – Sign up with us and you’re guaranteed to be on the first page for every keyword within a month

Truth: No one can guarantee that you’ll be #1 on search engines because no one knows exactly how to do it except for the search engines. All search engine optimization specialists know there are a lot of factors that go into ranking on the first page such as competition, location, page authority and domain authority. However, none of us know the secret algorithm search engines use.

Myth #2 – Once you’re on page one of Google, you’ll get more traffic

Truth: Getting on the first page of Google is helpful when it comes to getting more traffic. But, if a marketing company is promising that you’ll increase traffic 600 percent within a month, hang up. All goals when it comes to search engine rankings should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely).

Myth #3 – Paid placement campaigns are 100 percent necessary for ranking well on search engines

Truth: PPC campaigns are useful for showing up quickly on the first page for a specific, competitive keyword. However, PPC campaigns are also highly competitive when it comes to bidding on keywords, which means you might be spending a considerable amount of money on the ads. Also, studies show that 75 percent of frequent Internet users purposefully avoid paid ads, making them less effective.

Myth #4 – The more directories you’re on, the better it is for your website

Truth: If a marketing company tells you this, just say Penguin. Penguin is both an aquatic, flightless bird and a Google algorithm that penalizes websites for spammy link building. Having too many spammy links can really hurt your website.  It’s always quality and relevance over quantity when it comes to link building.

Myth #5 – A high amount of traffic means SEO is working for your business

Truth: Having a lot of traffic looks pretty on an analytics report, but it’s important to look at your bounce rate to find out if the traffic is quality. If your bounce rate is high, the visits to your site are low quality.  Another thing to keep in mind is that incremental traffic is converting – meaning users will call or request an appointment. At the end of the day, demonstrating an ROI is what’s important.

 Online marketing is important when it comes to having an effective website. However, it’s equally important to choose a marketing company that you trust.

Contact Practis, LLC at 704-887-5300 for information on online marketing.

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