excuse the pun, is "content." Users typically aren't looking for sales letters, Adsense unit pages, squeeze pages, indiscriminate RSS feeds, private label rights landfills, or keyword-stuffed nonsense with an affiliate link attached. Because users typically aren't looking for these things, neither are the search engines.

Users are looking for content, and the only thing the above tricks (and

Newcomers to internet marketing don't have to stick around very long before running into the concept of search engine optimization (SEO). While there are many approaches one can take to internet marketing, most of them involve attracting visitors to one or more Web sites. The purpose of search engine optimization is to draw as much of that traffic as possible.

SEO is a complex and often very technical issue. Search engines such as Google and Overture use complicated algorithms and sophisticated technologies to serve one very basic purpose: to make it as easy as possible for their users to find the information they're looking for.

Given how important search engines are to internet marketing, it's somewhat ironic that internet marketers often seem to forget or ignore their actual function. Internet marketers too often come to perceive Google and its ilk as puzzles to be solved and codes to be cracked.

After a while, they don't see search engines as tools designed to help users find information; they see them as opportunities to publicize their own Web sites. The trouble is, the search engines seem reluctant to give up their secrets easily. You have to figure them out, and sometimes you have to trick them. This can be a complex business indeed.

If one remembers what the search engine is for, SEO doesn't have to be complicated. Simply put, the search engines look for content that matches the information the user is looking for. And the search engines are getting better and better at quickly and efficiently finding that content.

The key word here, if you'll excuse the pun, is "content." Users typically aren't looking for sales letters, Adsense unit pages, squeeze pages, indiscriminate RSS feeds, private label rights landfills, or keyword-stuffed nonsense with an affiliate link attached. Because users typically aren't looking for these things, neither are the search engines.

Users are looking for content, and the only thing the above tricks (and

echnical issue. Search engines such as Google and Overture use complicated algorithms and sophisticated technologies to serve one very basic purpose: to make it as easy as possible for their users to find the information they're looking for.

Given how important search engines are to internet marketing, it's somewhat ironic that internet marketers often seem to forget or ignore their actual function. Internet marketers too often come to perceive Google and its ilk as puzzles to be solved and codes to be cracked.

After a while, they don't see search engines as tools designed to help users find information; they see them as opportunities to publicize their own Web sites. The trouble is, the search engines seem reluctant to give up their secrets easily. You have to figure them out, and sometimes you have to trick them. This can be a complex business indeed.

If one remembers what the search engine is for, SEO doesn't have to be complicated. Simply put, the search engines look for content that matches the information the user is looking for. And the search engines are getting better and better at quickly and efficiently finding that content.

The key word here, if you'll excuse the pun, is "content." Users typically aren't looking for sales letters, Adsense unit pages, squeeze pages, indiscriminate RSS feeds, private label rights landfills, or keyword-stuffed nonsense with an affiliate link attached. Because users typically aren't looking for these things, neither are the search engines.

Users are looking for content, and the only thing the above tricks (and

ction. Internet marketers too often come to perceive Google and its ilk as puzzles to be solved and codes to be cracked.

After a while, they don't see search engines as tools designed to help users find information; they see them as opportunities to publicize their own Web sites. The trouble is, the search engines seem reluctant to give up their secrets easily. You have to figure them out, and sometimes you have to trick them. This can be a complex business indeed.

If one remembers what the search engine is for, SEO doesn't have to be complicated. Simply put, the search engines look for content that matches the information the user is looking for. And the search engines are getting better and better at quickly and efficiently finding that content.

The key word here, if you'll excuse the pun, is "content." Users typically aren't looking for sales letters, Adsense unit pages, squeeze pages, indiscriminate RSS feeds, private label rights landfills, or keyword-stuffed nonsense with an affiliate link attached. Because users typically aren't looking for these things, neither are the search engines.

Users are looking for content, and the only thing the above tricks (and

sometimes you have to trick them. This can be a complex business indeed.

If one remembers what the search engine is for, SEO doesn't have to be complicated. Simply put, the search engines look for content that matches the information the user is looking for. And the search engines are getting better and better at quickly and efficiently finding that content.

The key word here, if you'll excuse the pun, is "content." Users typically aren't looking for sales letters, Adsense unit pages, squeeze pages, indiscriminate RSS feeds, private label rights landfills, or keyword-stuffed nonsense with an affiliate link attached. Because users typically aren't looking for these things, neither are the search engines.

Users are looking for content, and the only thing the above tricks (and

excuse the pun, is "content." Users typically aren't looking for sales letters, Adsense unit pages, squeeze pages, indiscriminate RSS feeds, private label rights landfills, or keyword-stuffed nonsense with an affiliate link attached. Because users typically aren't looking for these things, neither are the search engines.

Users are looking for content, and the only thing the above tricks (and countless others) can accomplish is temporarily fooling the search engine into believing that your content-free site actually contains relevant content. It's getting harder and harder to fool the search engines, so these tricks become more and more convoluted.

Fortunately, it doesn't require any technical skill or internet marketing savvy to use the best approach to search engine optimization. This approach isn't any big secret. It's simply to offer what users and search engines are actually looking for: content.

The drawback of this novel approach, of course, is that it requires some measure of creativity, talent, effort, and time. Providing real content just isn't as quick or easy as using the search engine tricks that essentially amount to Web site spam.

The beginner who is just starting out in internet marketing may want to consider this unusual emphasis on content-driven traffic. In the time it takes to master the arcane arts of SEO, you might be surprised at how much real content you can create. Once it's created, this content becomes intellectual property that you can monetize for years to come - and not just until Google improves their algorithms.