Search engine optimization seems to confuse a lot of people. Some small business owners I've talked to just frown when I try to explain it to them. Others don't really even want me to explain it. They just want their pages to rank well.

Unfortunately, all the confusion is probably not going to go away. As the search engines get smarter, there are fewer hard and fast rules to cling to. Techniques that were widely endorsed even a few years ago could now land you in trouble. The whole debate around links is a good example of this. But keywords are an even better example.