SEO is full of myths. Some of them come from outdated best practices, while others are wishful thinking or misinterpretations of how search engines work. At the Ezoic Pubtelligence conference in San Francisco (October 15, 2019), I tackled some of the biggest SEO misconceptions and provided clarity on what actually matters.
Authority: The Economy of Your Site
PageRank, Domain Authority (DA), Page Authority (PA), TrustFlow—what do they actually mean? While some of these are proprietary third-party metrics, the underlying concept that matters is authority and how it flows through your website.
Authority is like an economy:
- It is built through links.
- It is distributed by links.
- It can be wasted if mismanaged.
Common Authority Mistakes
- Dividing the pie too many times – Spreading link equity too thin across low-value pages.
- Trying to hide slices of the pie – Using nofollow or JavaScript to prevent authority from passing.
- Being stingy within your own house – Not linking internally to your important pages.
How to Keep Authority Flowing Efficiently
- ✅ Make sure your internal linking structure supports your most valuable pages.
- ✅ Don’t hoard authority—links should help users and search engines navigate your site.
- ✅ Focus on quality inbound links rather than obsessing over third-party scores.
Noindex: When to Keep Pages Out of Search
Using noindex tells search engines not to index a page, but are you using it correctly?
💡 Appropriate uses for noindex:
- Keeping junk out of search – Login pages, thank-you pages, internal search results.
- Preserving crawl budget – Preventing search engines from wasting resources on unimportant pages.
- Handling duplicate content – Avoiding index bloat from pages with little or no unique content.
🚨 Misusing noindex can hurt your SEO!
If an important page is accidentally noindexed, it won’t rank—ever. Double-check your implementation.
Nofollow: When (and When Not) to Use It
Originally, nofollow was a way to tell Google: “Ignore this link; don’t pass authority.” But it’s often misunderstood and overused.
🛑 PageRank Sculpting is a myth – Trying to manipulate authority flow by selectively using nofollow on internal links does not work.
✅ Proper uses of nofollow:
- Links to untrusted or user-generated content (
rel=”ugc”) - Sponsored links (
rel=”sponsored”) - Unverified external links where you don’t want to pass authority
❗ Important Update: As of March 2020, Google treats nofollow, ugc, and sponsored as hints rather than strict directives. Be strategic in how you use them.
On-Page SEO Is NOT Dead
One of the biggest myths I hear from developers is that on-page SEO doesn’t matter. That’s simply not true.
💡 Do headings matter?
Yes—but not in the way many people think. Google’s John Mueller (Oct 3, 2019) confirmed that multiple H1s on a page won’t hurt rankings. The key takeaway? Focus on clarity and usability rather than obsessing over a single H1.
What Actually Matters for On-Page SEO?
- ✅ Clear structure – Use headings to organize content logically.
- ✅ Readable and accessible pages – Ensure search engines and users can consume your content without barriers.
- ✅ Avoid ambiguity – Make it easy for both people and crawlers to understand your content.
Final Thoughts
SEO isn’t about gaming the system—it’s about helping search engines understand your site and delivering a great user experience.
Key Takeaways:
✔ Authority flows through your site—don’t waste it.
✔ Use noindex and nofollow strategically, not blindly.
✔ On-page SEO matters, but focus on usability and clarity.
