Natural search optimization. Organic search. Search engine optimization. White hat. Black hat. Gray hat.

Which phrase means just make the site user friendly at the utmost level? This idea seems lost on many, though I realize not on those in this audience. I find myself frequently frustrated with the focus on meta tags, meta descriptions, or keyword-rich copy. Content is key! With good, interesting, commonsense content, the ranking of meta tags, meta descriptions, and keywords will follow automatically.

The situation seems a lot like the age-old question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? What comes first, the meta description or quality content? Adding ‘optimization’ to our job descriptions portrays our desire to make something better, but it doesn’t give the right to forget the basics. Finding a balance between making clients and CEOs happy in a timely fashion, all while staying true to basic site methodology, can be difficult.

I find this discussion arises frequently with persons primarily involved with PPC. PPC characteristically has fairly rapid results, compared to SEO. Don’t get me wrong, I love my PPCer’s, but does anyone else run into the same kind of discussions?