7 Digital Marketing Myths Clients Often Believe (And How to Set the Record Straight)

This is a guest post from Becca Tee, Digital PR Lead at digital marketing agency Repeat Digital.

Although the digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving, with algorithm updates aplenty, it’s not uncommon for clients to hold on to outdated beliefs and practices. These misconceptions can skew clients’ understanding of how digital marketing works today, and lead to unrealistic expectations.

As marketers, it’s our job to not only deliver results but to also educate our clients, so that everyone is ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’. When separating fact from fiction it’s important to not only dispel the myth, but to explain the why.

Here we’ve put together a series of useful ‘template’ responses you can use the next time you’re challenged on a digital marketing tactic, whether that be SEO, PPC, or PR.

1. ‘We only need SEO for a few months’

While SEO can provide initial benefits, it shouldn’t be treated as a one-and-done solution. Search engine algorithms are dynamic, and your competitors are constantly striving for higher rankings.

In order to maintain and improve search visibility, SEO requires ongoing attention. This should include the creation of regular content, acquisition of high-quality backlinks, and technical optimisations, while making any necessary adjustments to the strategy based on performance data.

2. ‘How long will it take to get a sale from organic efforts?’

While it’s natural to want quick results, organic growth is typically a longer-term strategy. Generally, we suggest allowing at least three to six months to start seeing an uplift in rankings and traffic, and it may take longer for that traffic to convert into sales. This may vary depending on your industry’s competitiveness, your current online presence, and the quality of your website’s technical SEO and content.

With a consistent strategy, organic traffic is likely to build momentum over time and can provide a strong, sustainable source of leads and sales for your business.

3. ‘This keyword has a better search volume, why are we not targeting this?’

Although [insert keyword here] has higher search volume, search volume alone doesn’t always translate to the best results. Higher volume keywords come with greater competition, which can make ranking for them more difficult. They can also be too broad, which means they may not drive the best traffic.

Our focus is to strategically target keywords that balance volume with ranking potential and conversion relevance, making sure we attract the right audience for your business.

WhatConverts lets you easily see which keywords bring in the most value, giving you the data you need to target high-performers.

4. ‘Surely the more backlinks we get, the more our rankings will improve?’

It’s true that building backlinks can help a website’s rankings, with Google rewarding those with a diversified ‘backlink profile’.

However, we must stress that it’s much more about quality than it is quantity. The recent Google documentation leak confirms this, suggesting the search engine probably ignores links that don’t come from a relevant source. Google also favours content which is fresh, which means that’s in your best interest to have an ongoing digital PR strategy which focuses on securing coverage and links in highly relevant and reputable media.

5. ‘All of my competitors are paying for links - should we?’

Unfortunately, many link builders and businesses will try to manipulate Google’s search algorithm by taking the ‘quick and easy route’ and paying for links. While this may work for the short-term, it is explicitly against Google guidelines. If the search engine becomes aware that a company is using an underhand tactic, it has a number of penalties that it can enact which will negatively impact a website’s rankings and visibility.

That being said, paid-for opportunities may be the only way to gain placement in certain publications. From a traditional PR perspective, this may be worth pursuing if it gets you in front of the right target audience, however, we would ask the journalist to make the link a ‘nofollow’ link. This makes it less likely that the search engine will crawl it, as it indicates that the link is not intended to influence search rankings.

6. ‘Shouldn’t we always be aiming for the top position for our Google ads?’

I understand the desire to be in the top position, but as PPC operates on an auction system, higher positions come at a premium. Constantly bidding for the top spot can dramatically increase costs without a proportional increase in results, making it an unsustainable long-term strategy. Ads in the second or third position can perform just as well, and at a lower cost-per-click.

We want to make sure you get the most out of your investment, so we strive for a balance between cost and visibility, not just achieving the top position.

WhatConverts gives you the data you need to see the ROI for all your marketing, down to the campaign, ad, and even keyword level.

7. ‘If I double my PPC budget, I’ll double my results, right?’

I can see why it might seem like doubling the budget would automatically double the results, but unfortunately it’s not as linear as that. There’s often a point of market saturation where additional spend yields diminishing returns. We might be capturing most of the high-intent searches already, so doubling the budget could mean competing for less relevant or lower-converting traffic.

It’s often more effective for us to focus on optimising current campaigns. This could involve refining keyword targeting, improving ad copy, or enhancing landing pages to drive more conversions. Testing new ad formats, adjusting bidding strategies, or narrowing audience targeting can also help you to get more out of your current spend.

Wrapping Up

The better you are at addressing these myths and setting client expectations straight, the happier both you and your clients will be in the long run.

Optimize your marketing and keep clients happy with a free 14-day trial of WhatConverts!