7 Misconceptions about SEA and SEO

Search engine optimisation and advertising are constantly evolving - and so are search engine algorithms. This means that what worked well in SEO and SEA five years ago, for example, can have the opposite effect today. In addition, the market giant Google, unlike other search engines, keeps an extremely low profile, especially when it comes to details about ranking factors. That's why there is a lot of speculation in the industry, which sometimes leads to statements that are not correct. Thus, even after years, some misconceptions about this topic persist.

1. Google is always better than other search engines

Google is by far the largest search engine. Hardly anyone can afford not to have a presence there. But it always depends on where your target group is most often on the move. Depending on the customer group and the goal of the online marketing campaign, Bing, Microsoft or Yahoo can also deliver equivalent or better results.

2 Duplicate content is penalised by Google

Google recognises duplicate content on websites, but it is not indexed at all. If more and more pages are found in the Google Search Console that appear under "Duplicate - not defined as canonical by the user", Google has recognised duplicate content. However, no further action is taken as a result.

3 The more content, the better

Some homepages have an incredible amount of content, others have hardly any content at all. How much text a good homepage needs always depends on what is offered or what is important to report. Who you are, what you do or offer, an overview of your services and what visitors can do next are always part of it. Even more pages do not necessarily lead to more traffic. It is more important that the existing content is correct and informative. Basically, users should also not be left with questions when they visit the website.

4 The age of the domain helps with ranking

Although Google has denied for years that the age of a domain has a positive effect on the ranking, this misconception persists. Domain age only plays a role because new sites often have little or no content yet and it takes time to create valuable content that can be indexed.

5 Keywords with low search volume are not worthwhile

The higher the search volume, the more visitors can land on your website, you might think. But the most frequently used keywords usually also have many competitors. Therefore, there is a lot of potential in terms with a lower search volume. Often it is precisely these keywords that lead to a conversion and bring exactly the right target group to your own website.

6 Images do not need to be optimised

Companies should not do without optimising images. For Google, for example, PageSpeed plays a significant role and images in particular often slow down the loading speed. If photos are also to be found via Google Image Search, an image sitemap can also be provided. The use of semantic HTML also helps bots to process the images better, as CSS images cannot be read.

7. Google Ads don't work: When I google my keyword, my ad doesn't show up

Every company should Google itself regularly. Although this is a good way to find possible reports or to check one's own website, it is not a reliable way to check one's own advertisements. The fact that it does not appear can have several reasons: Perhaps the daily budget has already been used up, perhaps the ad was surpassed in an auction or Google personally classifies the ad as not relevant for the searcher.