This chapter provided a holistic grounding in the fundamentals of SEO. In particular, you should feel that while SEO is an important and integral part of the success of any blog or website, it is not the be all and end all. Adhere to the basic guidelines with the understanding that SEO practices are there because Google and other search engines want to encourage you to create good quality content.

After gaining an understanding of how Internet search works and why the search engines take certain factors into account when deciding how to rank pages, we saw that by following a few simple steps it is possible to maximize the chances of appearing high up in SERPs.

Finally, a comprehensive list of SEO dos and don'ts provided an easy-to-understand set of guidelines that will ensure you don't lose out on any SEO goodness unnecessarily.