For the 406th episode of Mail-Right Show, Robert Newnan and Jonathan Denwood explore and discuss the common SEO misconceptions for real estate websites. Robert Newman is the CEO of Inbound REM, an inbound marketing firm, and has been in the real estate SEO business for over a decade. Meanwhile, Jonathan Denwood is the joint founder and CEO of Mail-Right, a platform that builds WordPress websites and provides digital marketing tools in a streamlined, user-friendly package. This episode busted SEO myths that were believed to affect SEO ranking and provided real estate agents with strategies to improve websites’ visibility and position on search engine results.
The First Myth: SEO is Dead
There’s a lot of hype about AI because of its two distinct types: One is an AI that is based on language recognition software, and the other one is a general AI that mimics intelligence. An example is OpenAI, which has shown a very impressive technology, but note that it is not a general intelligence.
Unfortunately, because of that fundamental misunderstanding, several so-called experts on YouTube spread exaggerated information about SEO being dead, which is unlikely to happen in the next 2-to 5 years. There are similar concerns about the impact of voice search on normal search a few years back, but it didn’t pan out as some predicted. The situation with AI is different, but it does carry some of the same exaggerations and hype that are driven a lot by YouTube.
SEO won’t die unless the global economy and the internet infrastructure collapse. Moreover, the term “SEO” stands for Search Engine Optimization, and the only potential threat to SEO would be platform optimization, such as Facebook or Amazon, creating a tool that can answer every question people have so that they do fewer searches. But, fewer searches do not mean SEO is dead; it is just that search will trend differently over time, but it always does trend differently. And a true SEO expert is going to trend with the trends.
SEO has gotten bigger, broader, more comprehensive, and more intelligent, and more searches and information are being found online. Furthermore, Google remains the dominant player in this field, offering various search services and tools, even collaborating closely with Apple. So, the claim that SEO is dead is quite the opposite. In fact, it continues to thrive because more people are used to using search engines to find answers to their online questions.
The Second Myth: Google Only Ranks “Fresh” Content
The myth that only fresh content gets a high ranking is entirely untrue. Google’s primary goal is to show users the most relevant content that matches their search, and this relevance isn’t solely determined by how new or old the content is.
Google’s ranking process isn’t based on the age of the content. While there are algorithm, like the Caffeine or Hummingbird algorithms, that gives a slight boost to new content, it’s what happens next that matters. Once the content is pushed, Google measures the user engagement to decide whether or not the content will be kept on top of the search engines. Do people click on the search results? Do they engage with the content by reading it and returning for more? If these answers are yes, Google has no reason to derank content.
So, it’s all about user engagement. If people find the content valuable and keep returning, Goog