Free · 6 pages · PDF
Six SEO myths your client believes
Six claims the SEO industry repeats constantly, corrected against what Google's own documentation actually says. Each one comes with the correction and the citation.
7 primary sources · corrections made in the open
What it corrects
- “There is a duplicate content penalty.”
- “E-E-A-T is a ranking factor.”
- “SEO takes four to six months.”
- “NAP consistency is a Google ranking factor.”
- “Schema markup boosts rankings.”
- “Green Core Web Vitals mean higher rankings.”
The method, worked on one myth
The claim
“There is a duplicate content penalty.”
What the documentation says
Google describes duplication as something its systems resolve: it identifies which version of a page is the best one to show and consolidates the signals into it. No penalty is described. Scraping other sites to manipulate rankings is a different thing, and that one really does violate the spam policies.
What you can say to your client
“If the same text appears twice on your site, Google picks one version to show. You will not be punished for it. Copying other people’s content to game rankings is a different thing entirely, and that one really is against the rules.”
Six myths, six corrections, six sentences you can use in a client meeting tomorrow. Each one cited, with the class of the source printed beside it.
The guide, page by page
Real pages from the guide itself, not mockups. Select a page to open it at full size.
Sources
- [1]
How to specify a canonical URL with rel="canonical" and other methods · Google Search Central
- [2]
Spam Policies for Google Web Search · Google Search Central
- [3]
Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content · Google Search Central
- [4]
Tips to improve your local ranking on Google · Google Business Profile Help
- [5]
Introduction to structured data markup in Google Search · Google Search Central
- [6]
Understanding page experience in Google Search results · Google Search Central
- [7]
Do You Need an SEO? Tips for Hiring an SEO · Google Search Central
After the myths
This guide corrects the timeline folklore in a paragraph. The paid resources replace the conversations themselves: the timeline, what each side controls, why rankings move, and what the first ninety days actually contain.
01 · week one
Why SEO takes time
Your client expected results in thirty days. It is month two. You have had this conversation before, and you will not bill for it.
The kickoff conversation. Hand it over in week one, before the first 'where are the results' email exists.
- Format
- Guide, 12 pages
- Editable
- DOCX + Canva-importable PPTX
- Sources
- 4 primary
- Files
- 11
All of them together in the SEO Expectations collection, or compare every resource.