Ever since I've been making sites that require a user to log in with a username and password I've always kept the passwords somewhat secure by storing them in my database hashed with a salt phrase. Well just recently I read it is bad practice to use a single static salt word. Instead you should use a random salt for each user.

I under stand generating a random salt word for each user. But my question is, if you have to store the random salt also in your database so you can use it to cross reference it later to check the users inputted password when they log in. Doesn't that make it just as easy if usernames and passwords are stolen from your database then wouldn't they have just as much access to the random salt values as well? Seems like that extra layer of security doesn't really add much to the equation.

Or am I going about this all wrong?