SEO can be a minefield, with countless elements to understand, so you can be forgiven for falling for a myth or two. Some come rooted in outdated advice, others in half-truths that have simply become blown out of proportion.
You’re not necessarily wrong to consider them in your work, but believing them too deeply can distract you from what really matters. Below are a few SEO myths that aren’t nearly as harmful as people may think. And don’t worry, we’ve added a glossary of terms at the end of the blog in case you need a refresher.
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Duplicate Content Across Your Site
Myth: Google penalises duplicate content.
Reality: There’s no site-wide penalty unless it’s clearly spammy. At worst, Google may just ignore or de-prioritise the duplicate pages. Try to include as much original content as you can, but sometimes, it’s just not possible.
Example: Think of clothing websites with filtered product pages. The same pair of jeans or shirt, just in different colours, will have an almost identical product description. This is fine because it is relevant and true to that product.
Using The Same Keyword More Than Once
Myth: Repeat a keyword too often and you’ll trigger a penalty.
Reality: What hurts is unnatural “keyword stuffing”. If you’re writing naturally, Google understands context and synonyms. A keyword showing up multiple times is normal and expected.
Top tip: There is no magic number to hit, you should aim to include the keyword in the H1 and H2 if possible and variations scattered around the body copy. When reading back and you think “this sounds weird” or “I wouldn’t say it like this out loud”, then you know you’ve gone too far.
Having Too Many 404 Pages
Myth: A high number of 404s will drag down rankings.
Reality: 404s happen, especially on sites that are uploading a lot of new content, the old stuff can get lost along the way. Granted, you should try to minimise the amount of 404s on your site to improve user experience but unless you’re internally linking to them or blocking crawlers, they’re not a major SEO issue. You don’t need to hunt down and fix every single one.
Example: A blog post from five years ago, with a broken internal link in the copy, that no longer gets any visits, isn’t going to derail your rankings.
Perfect Scores On Tools Like Yoast
Myth: You need perfect “green” scores across the board to rank.
Reality: Get the vitals right and you’re golden. It goes without saying that a page ranked “green” opposed to “red” will likely rank better. But don’t spend your hours trying to tick every single box. If the user can get the information they need from your page and navigate it easily, you’re onto a winner.
Top tip: Get that keyword in the H1 and write copy that will satisfy your users’ intent. If they’re here to learn, write copy that will inform them. If they’re here to make a purchase, make that buying experience as simple and easy as possible.
Conclusion
If you’re serious about SEO, don’t waste time chasing myths. The real heavy hitters you should be focusing on are:
- Understanding user intent: what are people really searching for?
- Creating content with value: comprehensive, structured, and genuinely useful.
- Building authority: through backlinks, trust signals, and consistent value.
Everything else? Nice to have. But not the thing that makes a difference as much as the three mentioned above.
Glossary
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Keyword: A word or phrase users type into search engines, used in content to improve visibility in search results.
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Keyword Stuffing: Overusing keywords unnaturally in content in an attempt to rank higher, which can harm SEO.
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H1: The main heading on a webpage, usually the page title, that signals the primary topic to search engines and readers.
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H2: A subheading used to structure content under the H1, helping both readability and SEO.
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404 Page: An error page shown when a webpage can’t be found, often due to a broken or incorrect link.
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Yoast: A popular WordPress plugin that helps optimise content for SEO by analysing readability and keyword usage.
