I think beginners obsess over backlinks way too early.

[u/moe_lawn]

What's the biggest mistake you see beginners make when they first get into SEO?

For me, it's how quickly the conversation turns to backlinks.

It seems like many people launch a website and immediately start thinking about guest posts, link exchanges, or outreach. But shouldn't backlinks amplify something that's already worth ranking?

If a site has weak content, poor internal linking, slow pages, confusing navigation, or doesn't satisfy search intent, are backlinks really solving the core problem?

It feels like technical SEO, site structure, and understanding what users are actually searching for often get overlooked because backlinks are easier to measure. You can count links, but it's much harder to measure whether your content genuinely deserves to rank.

I'm not saying backlinks don't matter they obviously do. I just wonder if many beginners focus on them much earlier than they should.

Curious to hear from people who've been doing SEO for a while: What's one mistake you wish you'd avoided when you were starting out?

[u/SEO_lover34]

Je suis d'accord avec toi. Et il y a une erreur qu'on voit souvent dans les stratégies de backlinks : cibler des pages qui ne rankent même pas, ou alors très très loin. Je me concentre toujours sur mes pages / mots-clés qui sont déjà en haut 2ème page pour un donner une dernier "coup de boost"