As SEO continues to evolve, some of the past meets some of the present and future. It comes as no surprise that a variety of tactics have changed over time as search engines seek to prevent individuals from gaming the SEO system, but many people have held on tight to their beliefs and tactics – even if they no longer are absolute truths. In many cases, SEO can be done in a variety of ways in order to achieve maximum success; there are several areas that must be addressed as a part of any campaign, sure, but the route for each website can be a bit different. In the pursuit of vanquishing as many misconceptions about  SEO as possible, we’ve decided to isolate three of the largest ones and help you understand why they just don’t apply in the modern era of internet marketing.

SEO = Content Marketing

While content marketing remains a huge part of any broader marketing or SEO effort, all too many people have been ill-advised that this is all that matters when it comes to PageRank and SERP rankings. If you have been focused on creating quality content and engaging in its marketing, then keep up the good work. However, you shouldn’t believe that pinging URLs to readers through social media and other outlets is enough to count as an SEO effort. If you want to build a better web presence and make it to the top of search engine rankings, then you need to also focus on keyword inclusion, proper web design, social media and link building strategies that work.

Links Are All That Matter

For years, it was easy to build links and links were a huge part of how your site ranked in search results. Because of this, the myth that links matter more than anything else has survived the ages: unfortunately, this is not the case in 2014. You need to focus on link building strategies in order to be successful, yes, but there are several other areas (mentioned above) that you must also pay attention to if you want to be a successful brand on the web. SEO is about more than just links – it’s about quality content and the proper marketing of that content through a variety of methods. Brands and businesses that understand this are bound to perform much better due to their refined efforts.

Social Media = Better Rankings

While social media can in fact augment your site’s correlation to social media profiles in search, it can’t by itself give your website a boost when it comes to SEO. The social signals generated by a brand can help augment both a web presence and a social media presence, but existing SEO strategies will need to be in place before any positive impact can be felt. These elements feed off of one another in order to create an environment in which pinging URLs and sharing content becomes an almost organic process. Once you have built strong fundamentals of SEO (keyword usage, link building, quality content), your PageRank and SERP rankings will improve – which then gives your social media profiles via search a boost as well.