Search engine optimization tools have developed into measuring hundreds of variables, depending on their algorithm. SEO specialists give us a lowdown on the best practices we should still be doing to get on top of search engines, as well as the ones that we should be dropping.

Here are seven general SEO metrics to ignore, according to SEO specialists.

1. URL Length

In 2015, Google’s Gary Illyes described that URL length doesn’t matter to Google providing it’s under the HTTP limit of 2,083 characters. He further stressed that there are no Google ranking signals connected to URL arrangement.

Home pages, category and subcategory pages have a tendency to drive most untouched search traffic. Individuals pages as well tend to include shorter URLs. So it makes sense to occasionally link shorter URLs with a higher likelihood to rank.

2. Multiple H1 Headings

Having multiple H1 headings on a page was once an SEO mistake. But not anymore. Google’s John Mueller tackled this issue in a YouTube video, saying , “It’s not a problem.” Mueller give details that HTML5 often uses multiple H1 headings.

Furthermore, the significance of H1 headings has reduced, likely due to their production. As an effect, when an SEO tool advises you that there are a lot of H1’s in your article, you can just ignore it and move on.

3. 302 Redirects

Traditionally, 302 momentary redirects did not pass Google PageRank to the goal page, making 301 redirects the SEO-preferred alternatives. On the other hand, given that at least 2016, Google has stated frequently that 302 redirects work the same as 301s, passing 100 percent of the PageRank to the purpose page.

However, SEO tools persist in alerting sites to the occurrence of 302 redirects. Positively there are causes to prefer 301s — for instance, 301s prompt deindexing whilst 302s do not. But passing link authority is not one of them. Accordingly, this metric be worthy of little more than a glimpse.

4. Title Tag Length

Google typically shows 60 title-tag characters in its search results pages. Thus SEO tools frequently issue alerts when titles are longer.

But common e-commerce title tags don’t fit in 60 characters. A lot of product names are longer, and that’s previous to adding a branding signature to the end. Blog headlines are frequently longer than 60 characters, too.

The key is to put in the critical words that recognize the page’s unique purpose into the first 60 characters so that searchers can locate them. That would boost clicks and thus persuade rankings.

But title tag length, alone, doesn’t matter for organic search rankings.

5. Meta Description Length

The similar scenario pertains to Meta descriptions. Google will show a description of not further than 920 pixels in search results — about 158 characters. This is the info Google thinks about most significant to the searcher’s query. Although they don’t impact ratings, Meta descriptions can manipulate a searcher’s decision to click on your listing.

Google doesn’t constantly display custom meta descriptions. But normally it does. That’s why it’s significant to craft meta descriptions that utilize the targeted keywords and consist of a call to action.

The key is to optimize the description for necessary keywords, not length.

6. Text-to-HTML Ratio

The optimal quantity of text on a page varies based on its purpose. A lot of pages on an ecommerce site have little text since their purpose is to showcase product images and link to merchandise detail pages.

For instance, a category page might be highly optimized with only 50 words and still trigger a low text-to-HTML alert from an SEO device. Likewise, a long-winded article may be poorly optimized exclusive of triggering an alert.

The quantity of text on the page is a poor indicator of ranking capability.

7. Internal Link Quantity

SEO specialists normally warn against inserting more than 100 internal links per page. But ecommerce sites nearly always go beyond that number Amazon links to 319 internal pages on its home page. Walmart consist of an outlandish 777 internal URLs.

Depending on the merchandise catalog, you might have no choice but to link to more than 100 internal pages in your header navigation alone. As long it gives a positive customer experience, the number of pages in your internal linking structure is more or less inappropriate.