Thanks for this. Great common sense intro to SEO.

I think it’s dead wrong to paint all SEO with the same brush. SEO can be a legitimate, honest way to build your online readership. It’s like you say, a lot of readers come in from the SERPs (mostly Google). Why on earth not make sure the search engines help them to find you?

To me, that’s all SEO is: helping readers find relevant info on my blog.

Sure, I check my keywords before I post, but it’s just a way to make sure that readers can find me. I just did simple photo post for St Martin, for example, and originally thought most people spelled it St Maartin. A quick Google keyword tool search showed that most people (as in thousands more per month) call it St Martin – who knew? So I made sure my title reflected this.

Keep up the good posts! I’ll be following along to see what you have to say next!