Maybe it is because Google’s algorithm is such a closely guarded secret, or that many SEO aficionados, claim to have ‘discovered’ those secrets, but regardless of why, the number of myths that circulate about SEO seems to grow at a steady rate.

For many, this might seem harmless, and if you employ an SEO agency to do the work for you, you need not concern yourself that they are going to be influenced by them. But what if you are doing your own SEO, and are still trying to learn what you should and should not do?

It is understandable that you may have heard some of these myths and believe them. After all, some do seem to make sense. Unfortunately, no matter how logical they seem, if you base your SEO on any of them, it can undo all the good work you may have already done.

To try and ensure that does not happen we have put together 3 of the most common SEO myths circulating, and for which we simply have two words to advise you: Ignore Them!

Social Media Is A Waste Of Time

Of course, there are many aspects of social media that are purely for teenagers to have fun, or for families to send each other funny photos, but that is missing the point.

Social media is a particularly important aspect of a complete SEO strategy, and any business that ignores it is missing a huge opportunity to improve their branding, expand their audience base, and drive more traffic to their website.

Use Keywords As Much As You Can

This might be considered a ‘half-myth’ because using keywords is important and using them effectively in various places definitely works. The problem is that many marketers take it to mean stuffing keywords in every piece of content and as often as they can.

Keyword stuffing has had its day, and yet you will still find so-called experts advising you to use it as a tactic. Google know when you are doing it, so do not be tempted, unless you want to see your website’s ranking plummet.

Every Backlink Is A Good Backlink

This is simply not true. For example, you could have 500 backlinks coming to your website, and another site might only have 100. You would expect your site to get a higher ranking as a result, but it does not necessarily follow.

If all the links to your site are spammy, low-quality links, but the other site has links from authority websites that are trusted, they will outrank you all day long.

You want plenty of backlinks, but they need to come from websites that carry some kind of weight in Google’s eyes. The acronym E-A=T is one which they base this on, with E standing for Expert, A standing for Authority, and T standing for Trustworthiness.

if you can get backlinks from sites that meet at least one of those criteria it is worth having. Backlinks from sites that have none, are likely to do more harm than good.