What is SEO?

There are a lot of definitions of SEO (Search engine optimisation) but let’s
face it, SEO in 2013 is about getting free traffic from Google, the most popular
search engine in the world.
SEO is about KEYWORDS and LINKS. It’s about RELEVANCE and
REPUTATION.
Search engine optimisation is about a web page being relevant enough for a
query, and being trusted enough to rank for it. It’s about ranking for popular
keywords for the long term, on merit. You can play by ‘white hat’ rules laid
down by Google, or you can choose to ignore those and go ‘black hat’ – a
‘spammer’. But MOST SEO TACTICS still work, for some time, on some level,
for a period of time, depending on who’s doing them, and how it’s deployed.
Whichever route you take, know that if Google catches you trying to “modify
your rank”, then they will class you a spammer, and your site will be penalised
(you won’t rank for important keywords). Google does not want you to try and
modify your rank. They would prefer you paid PPC to do that. The problem is
– traffic from SEO is valuable. VERY valuable. And FREE, once you’ve
pleased Google enough.
In 2013, you need to be aware that what works to improve your rank can also
get you penalised (faster, and a lot more noticeably). In particular, Google is
currently waging war on unnatural links and manipulative tactics if it detects
them.