I posted a article on “What is SEO“, but actually I was probably still a bit too technical. I think I missed out explaining the bigger picture.

I have said it before and nothing I have ever read changes this view, remove all the technical guff and expert TLA's (Three Letter Acronyms…sorry entertaining myself!), Google's, and for that matter most other search engines, requirements are actually quite simple…

“They want to provide their users (people who search the web) with relevant, current and credible information.”

If they do that then the end user keeps using them and they get to sell advertising, it really is that simple.

All the technical stuff actually emanates from that key principle.

• By using words in your site that are relevant to a users search term chances are it will be what they want – “great I will use this search engine again”
• You are probably more inclined as a user to want to see an article about what you searched about that was written yesterday rather than last week – “great I will use this search engine again”
• By people linking to the site shows they are credible, think of it as a reference or a testimonial
• And so it goes on..

Yes the big SEO experts need to be technical but people need to stop thinking about what Google, Yahoo, AOL etc wants, how to shortcut things..no, no, no.

Think “what does the end user want from a Google search”. Stop thinking about Google's needs and think about the end users needs, please them and you will by default please Google.