Search Engine Optimization can be tricky to understand. There are so many companies harassing small and medium businesses trying to sell outdated and foolish tactics. This slideshow is to set some of this straight. Slideshow Content: 8 SEO Myths Debunked By Radiant Elephant LLC SEO Myth 1 Guaranteed #1 Rank on Google No company or tactics can guarantee a page 1, number one spot on Google. Most services that claim this cheat by paying for you to “rank” #1 for Google ads. Once you stop paying, you drop back into obscurity. SEO Myth 2 Black Hat Tactics Still Work The old ways of gaming the system: Keyword Stuffing, Link Farms and Invisible Text will do you more harm than good. The way to succeed now is clean descriptive urls, readable meta and most importantly great original content. SEO Myth 3 Good SEO Can Be Cheap Services offering SEO for $100 or $200 a month are a waste. SEO is about strategy and research. Legit SEO specialist charge $75/hr up to $500/hr. There is no cookie cutter strategy for success as every site and industry is different. SEO Myth 4 SEO Can Be Done Without Site Access While elements of SEO can be done without website access, SEO strategy starts on site with a thorough site analysis and fixing any on site issues first. H1 tags, URL’s, Image Tags, site speed and the actual content should be optimized before moving off site. SEO Myth 5 Link Building Can Be Fast 1,000 Back links for $50 within hours? Sure, if you want your site penalized. The algorithms have shifted towards link authority rather than a numbers game. Gaining high quality back links involves reaching out and creating relationships, and of course, great content. SEO Myth 6 SEO is “Set It and Forget It” We wish. SEO must be a strategy, and always in the mind of your company. A site may have a great start, but if you stop blogging, posting and link building your rank will slip. SEO Myth 7 Social Media & SEO are Unrelated While Google may not literally rank your Social Media pages and engagement, having a bustling digital community will help your organic rank. It creates links to these pages as well as gives you an opportunity for your content to be shared on a large scale. SEO Myth 8 Responsive Web Design Doesn’t Help Rank Google tries to give the searcher what is relevant. With so many searching from their tablets and phones, sites that are not responsive to these devices are seen as less relevant, therefore they rank lower. Mobile isn’t going anywhere. If your site doesn’t respond, Google won’t.