In the same vein as my previous post, this article on ethical search engine optimization hits on a lot of good points. I especially like the way he splits the field in three categories.
- Search engine optimization: Ensuring that your code and content is appropriately organized and easy for search engines to interpret accurately.
- Search engine exaggeration: Reinforcing your desired keywords through frequent repetition, hidden keywords, etc.
- Search engine deception: Creating content, pages, etc., that aren’t intended for human consumption, but are instead designed only to pull in search engine traffic.
You can also see it as a scale, going from “helping search engines” to “screwing with search engines”. Obviously, you have a better chance of your tricks working for a long time when you are helping.