The Ultimate List of SEO Myths: 21 Misconceptions Debunked

Want to hear a little secret? 

SEO involves a lot of guesswork. It doesn’t matter how loud the “experts” shout. Only the search engines know how their algorithms really work. 

There is good information out there. But skepticism is your ally when it comes to SEO. It’s your best tool for navigating the maze of half-truths and downright untruths you’ll regularly encounter.

What Is an SEO Myth?

“SEO myth” sounds self-explanatory, right? Something is either true or it’s not. 

Well, there are distinctions. 

In my experience, there are five types of SEO myths:

• Exaggerations: Factors that are important for rankings but not as much as people think. 
• Simplifications: Claims that carry some truth but have been stripped of nuance. 
• Misunderstandings: Accurate SEO advice that’s widely misapplied.
• Official mistakes: Announcements from search engines, especially Google employees, that have caught on but turned out to be false. 
• Outright fictions: The stuff that’s just wrong. Statements like “meta keywords affect rankings” and “longer content always ranks better.” 

In the process of optimizing your site, you’ll likely come across a mix of all of these claims. And it’s important to know whether to discard them entirely or apply them carefully. 

1. SEO Is Dead

Let’s start with the oldest and most enduring myth of the bunch: SEO is dead and ain’t coming back. 

It’s not. My recent research shows that Google boasts a whopping 8.5 billion daily searches, more than any other platform on the web. 

I’ve been an advocate for “everywhere optimization” for a long time. Search shouldn’t be the only channel you’re optimizing for. But it should still be the priority. 

In addition, organic search boasts a high session duration of 1 minute 38 seconds. This points to the fact that search visitors are highly engaged and valuable. 

Finally, organic search ranks as the top source of visitors to blog articles. It outranks all other channels combined for long-term, consistent traffic. 

2. ChatGPT Is Killing Google

Ever since ChatGPT was launched in late 2022, the SEO industry has been talking about how it spells the end of traditional search. 

However, the data paints a different picture. My team at NP Digital surveyed over 5000 ChatGPT users, and the results were clear. People prefer Google for search. This preference was actually greater among ChatGPT Plus and Pro users. 

There’s no doubt that ChatGPT is impacting the way people consume information. But Google still receives the bulk of search traffic. And that’s unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. 

3. Content Length Doesn’t Matter

Remember when it seemed like every blog post on the web was a mammoth 5000-word guide?

Thankfully, those days are over. 

But many SEO voices have done a 360-degree pivot. They’ve gone from saying, “Longer is better,” to, “Length doesn’t matter at all.”

We analyzed 751 websites to test this claim. The results showed that while there’s no need for overlong content, posts above 1000 words perform better. However, after 2000 words, benefits are limited. 

Your focus should always be on providing value, but keep your posts above 1000 words as a general rule. 

4. Zero-Click Searches Have Made SEO Redundant

Zero-click searches happen when a user enters a query but doesn’t go further than the results page. 

They may find the information they need in the AI Overview, featured snippet, or the “People also ask” section. 

There’s a lot of talk about how the zero-click trend is “stealing” clicks from websites. And while there is some impact, my research shows that sites have seen an overall increase in organic traffic since 2019. 

In addition, the rollout of AI overviews has had a relatively small impact on the number of searches with website clicks. 

5. E-E-A-T Is a Ranking Factor

E-E-A-T isn’t a ranking factor. That means Google doesn’t measure it directly. 

It’s a set of criteria used by quality raters that comes from Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines. 

Instead, E-E-A-T correlates with a whole bucket of actual ranking factors, like backlinks and content depth. 

It’s useful as a lens through which to judge your content. But for optimization, it’s more important to think about the specific factors, or “signals,” that Google uses to determine E-E-A-T. 

6. Brand Building Doesn’t Matter in SEO

SEOs like to focus on measurable optimization tactics. They often leave the trickier work of branding to other people. 

However, my research shows that brand building matters in SEO. 

In fact, an often misunderstood Google patent suggests that branded queries may be viewed in a similar way to backlinks. When somebody searches for your brand, Google may see that as a “vote” for your website. This, in turn, affects the results of non-branded queries. 

When you consider that 33.49% of Google searches are branded, the significance of optimizing for brand becomes apparent. 

I’m a big fan of the “rule of seven.” If people see your brand seven times, they’re much more likely to remember it. That’s why it’s important to push your content across all channels—social, email, podcasts, paid ads, you name it. 

7. It Takes Google 30 to 60 Days to Index Backlinks

There are lots of competing claims about how long it takes Google to index backlinks. For some reason, 30 to 60 days gained traction as a benchmark. 

However, Google Search Advocate John Mueller has dismissed this claim. When asked how long it takes to index backlinks, he replied, “Sometimes days, sometimes weeks, sometimes months. 

Coincidentally, this also applies to new pages. There’s no fixed period in which Google indexes content. On some occasions, it can happen in minutes. On others, weeks. 

8. Google Treats JavaScript Pages Differently

Ever heard that Google doesn’t like JavaScript? 

Claims of this nature tend to say that Google can’t render client-side JavaScript (JavaScript that runs in a user’s browser). Or that Google treats JavaScript-heavy pages differently and takes longer to crawl them. 

However, a large study by MERJ and Vercel debunked these myths. It showed that JavaScript is a useful tool for improving user experience with no detrimental impact on SEO. 

9. Page Speed (and Core Web Vitals) Can Make or Break a Page

Page speed is important. It’s a definite ranking factor, and my research shows that it corresponds strongly with rankings. 

Yet it’s not everything. 

Speaking in a video for Google Search Central, Martin Splitt said that “page loading performance and also Core Web Vitals aren’t as important as some people might think.” 

Optimize your site speed by all means. But remember it doesn’t need to render at above the speed of light. 

10. Keyword Density Is a Ranking Factor

The idea that keyword density is a ranking factor harks back to the early days of SEO. 

Did Google ever look at the number of times a keyword appeared on a page? Yes. But it’s no longer the case. 

Matt Cutts, a former software engineer at Google, was telling SEOs to stop worrying about keyword density as far back as 2011. 

11. High Traffic Means You Don’t Have Keyword Gaps

SEOs in charge of high-traffic, popular sites often assume they’re taking advantage of all available keyword opportunities.

Our research shows this is rarely the case. In fact, sites with more than one million monthly searches have a 37% keyword gap on average. 

If you’re struggling to find keywords, try changing your research filters and criteria. You can also supplement your data pool with different tools. 

12. .edu Links Are Special

.edu links have an almost mythical status in the SEO world. They’re seen as ultra-valuable, which has led to all sorts of spammy techniques to acquire them, like fake scholarships and guest post abuse. 

Tons of research shows that links are a ranking factor. But does Google put a premium on .edu links?

The answer is no. There’s no good evidence to support the claim. John Mueller and Matt Cutts have both said that .edu links are just like other types of links. 

13. LSI Keywords Are a Thing

LSI (latent semantic indexing) keywords are topically related to the target keywords of a page. 

There’s a widespread myth that adding more of these keywords to your content will boost your rankings. 

Back in 2019, John Mueller tweeted, “There’s no such thing as LSI keywords—anyone who’s telling you otherwise is mistaken, sorry.” He’s since gone on to reinforce that point. 

14. Google Uses Domain Authority

Domain Authority (DA) was invented by MOZ in 2006. It quickly became one of the most popular metrics in the game. 

As Kristi Hines puts it excellently in Search Engine Journal, “There is domain authority – the concept – and Domain Authority (DA), the metric by Moz.”

These two things shouldn’t be confused. Domain Authority is definitely not a ranking factor. Trying to increase your DA is a waste of time, at best. 

So, what about domain authority as a concept? 

Again, the evidence suggests that Google doesn’t use any metrics that measure credibility and quality at a site-wide level. John Mueller had this to say: “We don’t use domain authority. We generally try to have our metrics as granular as possible.”

15. Local SEO Is All About Reviews

Most small business owners have a straightforward approach to ranking in the local pack (the top three results that appear before the main listings). 

It involves setting up a business profile and asking customers for reviews. 

The thinking goes, “If I can generate lots of four and five-star ratings, Google will think I’m relevant and the best.”

In reality, a host of other factors come into play. These include distance from the search point, business category, and keywords in the business title. 

Reviews are important. But they’re just one part of the puzzle.

16. Google Penalizes Duplicate Content

The SEO industry can’t seem to shake the idea of duplicate content penalties. 

Google published this on Search Central: “There’s no such thing as a “duplicate content penalty.” At least, not in the way most people mean when they say that.”

The only time you need to be worried is if you’re plagiarizing another site’s content. If multiple URLs use the same content, specify a canonical URL.

17. People Only Use Text Queries to Search

If you’re only targeting keywords with text, you’re missing out on traffic. 

My analysis of data from multiple sources found that image tools like Google Lens account for 80 billion monthly searches.

And voice search, though it only has a volume of 1 billion at the moment, is on its way up.

Maximizing Google traffic means optimizing content for multiple formats: text, image, and voice. 

18. Bounce Rate Is a Ranking Factor

A lot of SEOs think they need to drive down page bounce rates. They assume that if visitors are leaving a site after viewing only one page, Google will assume it’s because users haven’t engaged. 

Despite lots of well-respected sources suggesting that bounce rate is a ranking factor, Google has repeatedly denied it—and I mean repeatedly. 

Research conducted by me and my team shows that some pages have naturally higher bounce rates. And this doesn’t necessarily indicate a bad visitor experience. 

Page conversion rates are far more useful metrics to focus on because doing so will lead to revenue gains while naturally reducing bounce rates where appropriate. 

19. Google Dislikes Smaller Publishers

After the Helpful Content Update in 2023, many smaller publishers complained that they had been demoted while larger, more established sites received a boost. 

This has led to the widespread misconception that Google prefers well-known brands over independent sites. 

However, these cases are anecdotal, and many small sites are doing well. In fact, Google’s August 2024 core update focused on rewarding high-quality independent publishers. 

And if you’re in any doubt that Google isn’t willing to penalize the big players, just look at what happened to Forbes Advisor (it wasn’t pretty). 

20. Saying “Near Me” Will Help You Rank for Local Search Terms

Including the term “near me” in your website content and metadata won’t help you rank for local search terms. 

My research shows that people are using the phrase “near me” less. Likely because Google is able to identify intent without it. 

Along with optimizing your business profile, the best way to rank for local queries is to identify “near me” phrases and include the surrounding keywords in your content. 

For example, if people are searching for “experienced plastic surgeon near me” in the San Francisco area, “experienced plastic surgeon” and “San Francisco” are the keywords you should target on your location pages. 

21. SEO Is Only a Short Game or Only a Long Game

There are two aspects to this myth. Some say that SEO changes fast and is best approached as a short-term play. Others say consistency is the key to long-term traffic. 

Both are true at the same time. SEO offers opportunities for quick wins and results that compound over months and years. 

We analyzed the search performance of 3000 pieces of content over a year. Blog posts started off slowly before gaining traction. Videos had an initial short-term spike. 

Well-rounded SEO content campaigns account for both attention spikes and long-term nurturing. 

Unlocking the Secrets of Search Algorithms

It’s true that figuring out search algorithms is inherently error-prone.

But that doesn’t mean you should ignore everything. Not by a long shot. 

Google and its employees regularly publish guidelines. There’s also a wealth of high-quality third-party data from independent tests. And don’t overlook your own results. They give you a direct window into what works and what doesn’t. 

As long as you stay skeptical, pick your information sources wisely, and follow the data, you’ll be climbing the SERPs faster than you can say “debunked.”