There are many myths floating around Google in particular and SEO in general. Given here are the Google related myths as per the John Mueller’s “Frightening Webmastering Myths” presentation at “Tricks and Treats” webmaster event.
Duplicate content will penalize your site. [Don’t worry too much about duplicates on/from your own site. But be reasonable while using content from other sites]
Mixing HTML/XHTML will break verification
Getting listed in 1000s of search engines and directories is important. [search engines can find you, no need for submitting to directories]
Participating in AdWords, AdSense or Analytics will help or harm your site. [They won’t]
If a keyword is important, it’s important to repeat it in important locations on important pages so that the page looks more important to important search engines. [Write only with your readers in mind]
Using XML Sitemaps will make your site drop. [It doesn’t]
PageRank is dead / PageRank is everything! [Its not dead, but is also not everything, there are 200 more factors]
Resubmitting your site regularly is vital. [Not required]
Once your site ranks high, don’t touch it. [People need fresh content also]
Valid (X)HTML will make your site rank higher. [No]
# Using “disallow” in your robots.txt will remove your site/page from the index.
The more links the better.
The only important goal when making a website is getting it listed first in search results.
It’s best to let old URLs return 404 so that the new structure is naturally discovered.
Using “Index, Follow” in robots meta tags is important.
Hosting your site on a shared IP address will cause your rankings to drop.
[Reproduced from John Mueller’s “Frightening Webmastering Myths” presentation slides.
