I had interesting conversation recently with an Automotive SEO savvy Internet Sales Manager. He approached me with some SEO questions I thought my readers would enjoy. The following list a few of the myths discussed in underground SEO forums and my take on it.
I can hide content on the page for better rankings
You can try. A lot of folks will try to put keyword-rich text in hidden DIVs or in the same color as the background, hoping search engines will find it and attribute it to their relevance. Actually the opposite is true: Search engines look for these tricks and ban sites for using them.
Keyword-rich links at the bottom of pages help a lot
They barely help at all. Google, Bing and Yahoo! all apply the rational surfer model to link valuation. The less likely a reader is to click on a link, the less value the link can pass. And guess what? Readers don’t click those 8-point type links you shove at the bottom of the page.
Search engines can index Flash, java script and AJAX content
Nope. Search engines are trying to index Flash. They’re making an effort to index java-script and AJAX content. But the results thus far are, at best, lousy. If you want your text found, it must be real text.
By ‘real’, I mean text you can cut-and-paste into a text editor. Text that’s in an image, a Flash file or a video doesn’t count.
If I write great content, I’ll move up in the rankings
Yeah, I wish. You’ll hear Google, Bing and Yahoo! repeat “Produce useful, great content and you’ll get links and you’ll rank better.”
Good luck with that one...
There are thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands, of other sites all competing with you for rankings and attention. You’re going to have to do a little more to be heard. That’s what Automotive SEO is for. Google+
