Jump To:
A few weeks ago, I got a LinkedIn message from a woman that I met at MozCon, an SEO conference I attended in Seattle in June.
She works for One Stream Live, and she asked me to be a guest expert on a panel discussion about live-streaming SEO.
If you’ve been here for a hot second, you know that live-streaming is not historically my zone of genius.
But a quick Google let me know that there’s aren’t too many folks out there talking about live streaming SEO.
While this opportunity made my palms sweat, I channeled my inner Shonda Rhimes, and I said yes.
With a diverse career spanning PhD level research and founding two businesses, I’m a critical thinker and a problem solver first.
SEO is the problem I like to solve.
This was such a fun opportunity to step a little outside of my comfort zone, expand my understanding of SEO and contribute to a relatively new conversation.
And as I prepped for this conversation, not only did I learn a lot about live streaming, I also blew up one of my most precious assumptions about SEO:
That your website needs to be the first search result for your name or your brand.
Here’s the thing with many live-streamers: They’re first and foremost trying to drive traffic to their streaming platform. That’s where their product is. That’s where their money is.
So for someone whose money comes from live-streaming, it’s probably okay, and dare I say, ideal, if their streaming platforms outrank their website in search.
Search SHOULD surface their whole digital ecosystem. The brand website should come up in the first 10 links. But it doesn’t need to be the top result.
SEO isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy and it needs to reflect the needs of the client.
For most of the service providers and small business owners in my ecosystem, I do want your website surfacing as the first result for your name and brand- but this experience made me question other long-held beliefs.
It got me thinking: how many “rules” of SEO have I been following that might not be as ironclad as I thought?
Here are a few that I realized might need rethinking…
1. “Wordpress is the best platform for SEO.”
For a long time, WordPress was regarded as the best platform for SEO. And to this day, there are still a lot of SEOs who swear by it.
And, personally, you can pry it from my cold dead hands. I love WordPress. This is a WordPress website and I only work backend on WordPress websites.
But while WordPress offers many SEO-friendly features out of the box and is supported by a ton of plugins that make SEO a breeze to dial in, it’s no longer the only game in town.
Other platforms like Squarespace, ShowIt, and Wix have significantly improved their SEO capabilities.
Ultimately, Google doesn’t care what platform you’ve used to build your website. It cares that your website meets it’s technical expectations, that you’re creating great content and that you’re an authority in your space.
With the right setup, websites built on these platforms can be just as effective as WordPress for SEO. And WordPress websites can have a horrible setup and do extremely poorly in search.
Building your website on WordPress doesn’t guarantee great visibility in search.
The choice of platform should now be more about what best fits your specific needs rather than an assumption that WordPress is automatically superior.
2. "Only use one H1 per page."
“H1” refers to the title tag that traditionally is applied to the title of a blog post or the above-the-fold headline on a webpage.
Subsequent title tags (H2, H3 etc.) are meant for subheadlines and are best laid out hierarchically in the same way you outlined an essay in high school.
The idea that a page should only have one H1 tag was a best practice for many years, but it’s no longer necessary.
Modern HTML5 allows multiple H1 tags on a page, and search engines are sophisticated enough to understand the context of non-heirarchical title tags.
Not only do search engines understand out-of-order tags, but Google has explicitly stated that it doesn’t care how many H1s are on a page.
The important thing is that the H1 and other heading tags (H2, H3, etc.) are used logically to structure content and provide clarity to both users and search engines.
Now, here’s where I’m definitely digging in my heels a little bit: While multiple H1s don’t really matter for SEO anymore, I still think keeping it simple with one H1 is the way to go.
We don’t know how the algorithms will change in the future, and by using these tags as they were designed to be used, you save yourself having to go back and update these details if they become relevant in the future.
Call this a matter of personal preference, but don’t call it a rule!
3. "Meta descriptions are a ranking signal."
Meta descriptions are the text that Google displays under the blue link in search engine results. These descriptions can be specified on the backend of your website.
Mete descriptions have traditionally been seen as a critical component for SEO rankings.
While they remain important for click-through rates (CTR) because they provide a summary that appears in search engine results, they no longer have a direct impact on search engine rankings.
Google’s algorithms have evolved to prioritize the actual content on the page over meta descriptions when determining relevance.
Also of note, in about 60% of cases, Google overrides the specified meta-descriptions provided by the website and generates its own excerpt.
I still recommend specifying your own meta description in the off-chance Google uses yours (again, because it’s so valuable for click through!) but Google’s algorithm isn’t taking it into account. It’s certainly not your highest SEO-priority.
4. "SEO titles shouldn’t be more than 65 characters."
The SEO title is the text that Google uses in the blue link in search results. And its contents are a confirmed SEO ranking signal.
For a long time, SEO’s have recommended a 65-character limit for SEO titles as a best SEO practice.
However, Google’s official line is that they don’t care about the length of the SEO title (although they will truncate it if it’s too long).
Interestingly, Backlinko did a study that determined the best click-through rate for SEO titles in the 40-60 character range.
So if you’re taking time to craft a keyword-rich SEO title, I still recommend keeping it to 40-60 characters, in order to maximize your click through rate.
So, while title length doesn’t technically matter to Google, it does directly impact an SEO ranking signal (click through rate).
The upshot here is I do still support this recommendation, but our rationale needs updating.
5. “Keywords and Content, good Tech and Backlinks are the pillars of SEO.”
For years, the three pillars of SEO were seen as Technical SEO, Backlinks, and Content.
However, this framework is now considered too narrow.
Modern SEO strategies need to incorporate additional pillars: Brand and Authority and User Engagement. A successful SEO strategy must look beyond just technical aspects, keyword targeting, and link-building. It also needs to consider the brand’s presence across various platforms and how users engage with the content.
User experience (UX), brand credibility, and engagement metrics like bounce rate, time on page, scroll depth and click behavior have become critical components of SEO performance.
Want to learn more about these “new” pillars? I recently wrote extensively on the role of brand and authority for SEO optimization. You can read that here:
As search engines evolve, so must our approach. For effective SEO, we need to go beyond just creating optimized websites, but also strong, trustworthy brands that offer excellent user experiences across their online ecosystem.
From Comfort Zone to Cutting Edge
SEO is always changing, and so are the “rules” that many of us have clung to for years.
While it is oh-so-tempting to hold onto familiar practices like my son clings to his lovey, a willingness to adapt to change is the key to staying competitive. What worked a few years ago might not cut it today, especially with search engines prioritizing user experience, engagement, and brand credibility over technical tricks.
My prep for the live-streaming panel reinforced for me how much SEO has broadened.
It’s no longer just about optimizing keywords and backlinks. Today, it extends to building a full digital presence that engages users and builds trust.
We have to look beyond traditional SEO pillars and think about how our audience experiences our brand across every platform. Live streaming is a perfect example. While it’s not currently a very common tool amongst my regular clients, I think it’s a super compelling example of a technology that facilitates a consistent, multi-platform presence that could be incredibly powerful SEO multiplier for the right brand.
Here’s the good news: Adjusting your approach doesn’t mean abandoning what you know. It involves layering new strategies on top of a solid foundation.
The more we stay open to shifts in SEO, the better we can help our clients and businesses thrive in a fluid search landscape.
What outdated SEO ‘rule’ are you holding onto? It might be time to shake things up!
