Web Development

32 posts

Myth: An XML sitemap is needed for SEO; it helps rankings

Many SEO guides suggest creating XML Sitemaps. They either say or imply that sitemaps are needed to get Google to index your site and get good rankings. XML sitemaps do have some uses for SEO, but:

  • XML sitemaps won't influence Google rankings.
  • Google rarely chooses to index a URL that it only finds via an XML sitemap.

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SEO Myth: Structured data helps search engine rankings

Google has recently given a lot of visibility to structured data. That is, special HTML markup from schema.org about various types of data. When implementing several types of structured data, Google will display rich snippets in the search results such as star ratings of reviews. Google added a structured data testing tool to search console.

Because of all this, many webmasters think they need to implement structured data for SEO. That just isn't the case. Continue reading

SEO Myths

There are a lot of misconceptions about SEO and web development. None of the following are true, but I regularly run into people who believe them.

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