SEO ranking factor myths dispelled

In this week’s office hours, we tackled a variety of SEO questions and dispelled a couple SEO myths.

We started our time talking about Schema. Schema is an important way to communicate content to Google. Sure, you have words on your page but Google doesn’t always understand what those words mean. Schema helps. So, how can you tell if Schema is installed on your website? There are several ways to tell- and see if Google even acknowledges your schema.

This week we spent a lot of time dispelling a couple SEO myths about ranking factors. One member asked if Google will “penalize” you for using phrases like “now”, “today”, or limited time deals in your call to actions. That’s a new one for me, and I don’t believe it. While Google does hold “your money or your life” (YMYL) sites to a higher standard of credibility, I don’t think this translates into the CTA or would be a “ranking factor” (or negative factor, for that matter).

Another SEO myth is that Google prefers sites with video. I’ve only heard this rumor from companies selling video- so we should be automatically suspect. In my experience, I’ve not seen pages with videos perform better than ones without video. That being said, if a video helps communicate information well, use it- whether or not it affects your SEO results.

Rather than chase rumors of little factors, I always recommend people focus on the basics of page optimization. These are the tried and true things that “work” rather than chasing the latest rumor.