There is an abundance of search engine information available on the web - some
of it valuable, much of it contradictory. Throughout the years, some prevailing
search engine myths have developed. Some of these myths are actively encouraged
by companies with a financial interest in their continued existence. Others are
based upon techniques that were effective years ago but no longer work. Still
other myths come from simple misunderstandings that inevitably come with a relatively
new medium. What follows is a few of the most prevalent.

Myth: Using a program or service to \"Submit your site to 10,000 Search Engines\"
is a good idea.

Fact: There aren't 10,000 search engines. There aren't even 500. In
fact, the top 10 search engines account for the vast majority of search traffic
(studies vary from between 85 and 98 percent). Most of the sites that these
programs or services list as \"search engines\" are called FFA (Free For All)
sites. These sites will agree to place a link to your site on their site, which
is usually just a collection of links. Your link will usually only appear for
a short time, since as new links are added, the older ones are pushed off the
page. Almost no traffic can be expected from such links - but you can expect
a lot of unsolicited mail to the email address that you provide them. In fact,
these pages are set up largely to collect email addresses to which spam can
be sent (and you can get spam for free!). In addition, engines do not like submissions
done by computer programs (because of the excessive use of resources and the
general low quality of the pages they usually receive in this manner), and many
of the most popular have taken steps to make automated submission impossible.
This means that these programs or services will not even get you listed in many
of the top engines.

Myth: Using a program or service to \"Submit your site to 10,000 Search
Engines\" or listing your site on FFA pages can get your site penalized.

Fact: Search engines are very careful not to penalize sites for issues
that are outside of the webmaster's control. For example, if it were possible
for a site to be penalized for using one of these scam submission services,
it would then befairly easy to get your competition penalized for a nominal
fee by simply submitting their site. If a link to a site from an FFA page were
all that it took for penalization, it would not cost anything to get your competition
penalized, save for the time it took to submit their link. Your site will not
be penalized for incoming links, period, even if they come from less than desirable
sources. You can, however, be heavily penalized if you choose to link OUT to
bad pages. The difference, of course, is that you have full control over the
sites you wish to link to, whereas you have very little control over who decides
to link to you.

Myth: Using software to check your search engine positions will get your
site penalized.

Fact: This belief is still widespread today, even among many respected
industry professionals. Since Google states in their terms of service that ranking
software should not be used to check rankings, many people interpret this to
mean that Google will penalize the sites that are being checked. However, for
largely the same reasons described in the previous myth, this just wouldn't
make sense. The ability to get your competitors penalized by repeatedly running
software to check their search engine positions would be a very powerful (and
unfair) weapon, and Google realizes this. What they will do, however, is penalize
the IP address of the machine that is running the software. This can make for
uncomfortable moments when you have to explain why everybody sharing your office
T1 line is denied access to Google, but won't get your site penalized.

Myth: Meta tags are the most important factor in search engine rankings.

Fact: Many search engines (most notably Google) largely ignore meta
tags due to constant abuse by webmasters. The only importance placed on meta
tags these days is actually the meta description tag, which will appear as the
description for the corresponding page on engines that use Inktomi data (such
as MSN). Meta tags are virtually irrelevant in the ranking algorithms of the
top engines - but many people continue to believe that they are the only optimization
strategy that they need.

Myth: It's impossible to do search engine optimization in-house.

Fact: It often is done in house, and done effectively. This is typically
when a large corporation hires in-house talent that is devoted exclusively to
promoting the website. However, it is unrealistic to expect someone with many
other job functions to do a credible job of SEO. Much of the skills are acquired
through experience - and it isn't usually desirable to have someone \"experimenting\"
with the company website (especially considering that certain techniques can
get sites penalized on engines or banned outright). SEO isn't rocket science,
but it also isn't something that can be learned overnight. When deciding whether
to outsource SEO or do it in house, it is important to consider the actual costs
involved. Often, when the necessary hours it takes to pay someone to learn on
the job are taken into account, it is cheaper to outsource (and, if you've chosen
your vendor wisely, the results are almost always better). Only a careful evaluation
of your goals and resources can determine the best course of action for your
company.

Myth: Sites must be constantly resubmitted to retain rankings.

Fact: This is a scare tactic popularized by various submission services
and software companies. In fact, it is a waste of money to pay to have your
site resubmitted once it is already listed in an engine's database. It will
not hurt your rankings to resubmit (or else people would constantly submit their
competitor's sites to get them penalized), but it will not help, either.

Myth: Search engine optimization is not as effective as \"traditional\" marketing.

Fact: In many ways, it is more effective. Companies often spend countless
dollars on direct mail, television and radio advertising, and bulk email without
a second thought. The common thread with each of these strategies is that the
prospect is \"approached\" by the company, and that the company must reach a great
number of people to find a few motivated prospects. On the other hand, search
engines can deliver highly motivated prospects directly to your website - people
who have already demonstrated, through their use of particular keyphrases, an
interest in your products or services.

Conclusion:

These are only a handful of the numerous search engine myths currently in existence.
Even if these particular myths were to be universally dispelled tomorrow, a
new batch would surely arise to take their place - and the motivations behind
some of them would be just as dubious. With search engine marketing, as with
anything else, it is important to treat everything with a healthy dose of skepticism
(including this article!).

About The Author

Scott Buresh is Co-founder and Principal of Medium
Blue Internet Marketing. For monthly tips on how to get the most out of
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