When talking about Search Engine Optimization efforts, one cannot ignore a website’s Google Rankings. It is the system in which Google decides which page goes to what search engine result page (SERP) and in what order. Data shows that people tend to go for the first few results in Google and nobody even bothers clicking the second results page. This is why rankings are so important. Rankings mean more web traffic and traffic means sales conversions. This may leave a beginner in SEO in constant worry about every little thing they do and add to their websites. However, we will be debunking myths surrounding what Google looks for in determining rankings.
Myth 1: My Bounce Rate Affects My Rankings
For those of you who don’t know, a bounce rate simply means the length of time somebody spends browsing your website. Many beginners are concerned that if their bounce rate differs so much on the industry average when they hit up Google Analytics, they would get an unfavorable response from Google. The simple debunk to this is no, Google doesn’t care about your bounce rate. There are many factors in why a users stays longer or shorter compared to your competition sites. Maybe your website loads faster, or maybe your visitors get what they want from your site sooner than the other sites and so on.
Myth 2: Using Other Google Apps Will Improve My Rankings
Beginners may also have a tendency to think that if you do not use other Google platforms or apps like G-docs, Google Calendar, Adsense, Gmail, Google Analytics etc; then Google may not want to take care of the website. In reality, Google doesn’t care if you use their other services or not, as long as your website or blog produces good content that the people approve of, then that’s good enough for them. We suppose it’s safe to say that there is no engineer in Google who’s obsessed that much with data that they will go thru hundreds and thousands of accounts just to tick boxes all day.
Myth 3: Google Doesn’t Love My Website Because It’s Old
Whether you made operated your website way back when e-mailing was considered a CIA top secret protocol, or just a couple of years back, Google doesn’t really care. As long as you provide good links and the right authority checks and clearances plus positive customer feedback, then there’s no reason Google wouldn’t prioritize your website in the Google Rankings. There’s a catch though. If say the younger website achieved the same amount of credentials than the older website, then Google would assume that this website did pretty well in a shorter amount of time and so may give it a little nudge over the older site who has similar credentials.
Myth 4: Third Party Social Media Likes and Shares Should Boost My Google Rankings
Likes and Shares in Facebook or upvotes in other social media platforms are something Google is not exactly concerned about. Your post or website may get a million shares and likes, this would not directly affect your rankings. However, this is a little complicated, because, if those likes and shares would be converted to organic traffic, positive feedback and sales, then Google will rank the site higher as a consequence of this. So though the likes and shares did not affect directly, they may still have an impact on your website’s traffic and activity.
