It's no secret that SEO is important. We all know it. So I'm not going to lecture you on that. But what I do want to make sure of is that you're using SEO effectively and that can be really difficult to do with all the myths out there.

If you believe any of these SEO myths, you'll be wasting your time and doing some damage to your search engine rankings.

I've been providing SEO services to clients for quite some time now, so I want to clear up some of the biggest myths.

SEO MYTH 1: SEO IS ABOUT GETTING TO NUMBER ONE ON GOOGLE

People think if you have one keyword that ranks at number one on Google then you'll get millions of pageviews.

It's actually better to try and rank for various keywords on various pages within Google, rather than trying to aim for the top spot.

If your sole aim is to try and get to number one on Google, it's going to take you a long time to get there.

How to beat the myth: Try and rank for different keywords that relate to your industry. For instance, if your blog is all about mobile phones, instead of trying to rank for that keyword, you could use:

mobile phone devices
mobile phone news
mobile phone guides etc.

SEO MYTH 2: MORE CONTENT MEANS BETTER SEO

You've heard this before but it's just too important - it's all about quality, not quantity.

Even if you just publish one blog post a week, as long as it's a valuable piece of content, that is the key to SEO success.

Google wants to display content that people are actually searching for, so your blog has to fit that criteria.

How to beat the myth: Focus on creating content that your readers actually want.

SEO MYTH 3: YOU DON'T NEED TO OPTIMISE YOUR IMAGES ANYMORE

Image optimisation is crucial for your website. You can get people coming to your website from image search, so you should be optimising your images to appear in image search.

Images help to draw the eye and provide a visual representation of what you're offering.

How to beat the myth: Name your images something when you save them and give them a description when you upload them to your website.

SEO MYTH 4: SOCIAL MEDIA HAS NO IMPACT ON SEO

You are a brand and the core of your brand is the main way you communicate with people, usually your blog or YouTube channel.

Then you have these brand extensions like your Twitter, Instagram feed, Instagram Story, Facebook, Pinterest - these all relate back to the core of your brand.

People want to view content from a credible source and if your brand is deemed as credible, that will get you better SEO results.

How to beat the myth: You have to promote your content and you have to get past the fear of doing that. Promote it in a way that is of value to your audience.

SEO MYTH 5: GOOD USER EXPERIENCE ISN'T ESSENTIAL

You don't want to loose readers because your website is too confusing to navigate.

Google looks at how easy a website is to navigate for its users so your SEO results are going to take a massive knock if you've not optimised your website for mobile, or you've got pop-ups everywhere.

How to beat the myth: Go through your website as a user and analyse it. If you believe your user experience is great, so will your audience.

Which one of these myths did you believe? Leave that in the comments below along with how you're going to move forward.

Remember to bust through the myths out there so you can get one step towards your next breakthrough.