Top 5 Myths About Ranking in Google

Google is the heart of the internet. It’s arguably the best search engine we have, and it’s definitely the most popular. It’s a tool that most of us use on a daily basis, and usually several times a day, to find the information and websites we’re looking for.

Accordingly, it should be no surprise that millions of business owners make it their top marketing priority to rank highly in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs). The strategies that collectively make this possible are referred to as search engine optimization (SEO).

There are some simple ideas that can make your SEO strategy more effective; for example, producing better content and demonstrating expertise is ideal in making your content rank higher.

But among these strategies and advisories, there are five persistent myths that hold people back.

What are these myths about ranking in Google? And what’s the truth?

Myth 1: Google Ads Will Help You Rank Better

First, it’s tempting to believe that spending money on Google Ads will help you rank better. After all, Google likes to make money and could conceivably incentivize more ad spending by manipulating organic rankings in this way. But in reality, organic search rankings have little to do with paid advertisements, and simply investing in a PPC ad in Google probably isn’t going to influence your organic rankings at all.

There is one caveat here, however. When you’re on page one of organic search results while simultaneously having a PPC ad on that page, you’ll be more likely to earn clicks through your organic search entry.

Myth 2: You Can Optimize for “Near Me”

If you’re interested in ranking for local searches, you probably understand that many people looking for local businesses use the phrase “near me” as part of their search queries. For example, they might search for a “pizza restaurant near me.” If you uncover phrases like this in your keyword research, you might be motivated to optimize content on your website with the phrase “near me” – but this probably isn’t going to help you.

The truth is, Google is incredibly good at understanding user search intent and the meaning behind semantic phrases. When it sees the phrase “near me,” it assumes the search is for local businesses and the exact match phrase falls in importance; it might as well be the name of your city.

There’s a grain of truth to this idea, as before March of 2018, this optimization strategy did work. However, writing content optimized for “near me” is no longer going to benefit your SEO strategy.

Myth 3: Nofollow Links Don’t Affect Your Ranking

Google introduced the nofollow tag as a way to mark certain links to be avoided by search engine crawlers. It was a way to encourage webmasters to continue allowing links in blog and forum comments, as well as sponsored links, without allowing for search ranking manipulation. In the wake of this change, millions of search marketers started to treat nofollow links as being completely irrelevant for an SEO campaign.

However, there are new tags being used for these types of links: ugc and sponsored, implying that Google may be interested in monitoring user-generated content as indicators of online popularity. And remember, even nofollow links can generate referral traffic and boost the visibility of your website.

Myth 4: You’ll Be Penalized for Using AI-Generated Content

It’s tempting to think that AI-generated content would only be a bad thing for your SEO campaign. But multiple Google officials have gone on record stating that there’s nothing inherently wrong with generating content with AI. The problem is thin, poorly written, or non-expert content; AI tools are certainly capable of generating low-quality content, but they’re also capable of generating high-quality content that the algorithm might favor.

According to SEO expert Michael Cottam, “AI tools like ChatGPT are just that… tools, like your spell-checker, like a thesaurus, like a Google search. The fact that ChatGPT COULD generate an entire article for you doesn’t mean you should let it. Instead, let ChatGPT save you some time in the initial research and writing of your first draft. Then, use your own expertise to proofread that draft, adjust the style and tone, double-check some facts, and add your own examples to create your final product.”

Myth 5: Google Tells Us How the Algorithm Works

Google gives us a ton of information about what it encourages and what it discourages. Because of this, it’s tempting to think that we can use these recommendations to figure out exactly how the Google algorithm works. But the truth is, Google recommendations and the Google algorithm are totally different things, and we need to treat them as totally different things. We need to trust objective data to tell us what’s happening in the algorithm, and use our own experiments to figure out what works best for our websites.

These are just some of the myths that continue to circulate both in and outside of the SEO community. If you’re serious about ranking higher in Google and other search engines, it’s imperative for you to challenge your assumptions, do your own research, and look at the data to form more accurate conclusions. 

With the help of an SEO professional, you’ll be in a much better position to achieve your ranking goals.