Val_Resnik - 3:42 am on Jun 20, 2006 (gmt 0)

So I've been reading a lot lately about web development, and with regard to SEO, I keep hearing that if you want to be successful, you need to do some SEOing. On the other hand, I read plenty of stuff with regard to SEO saying, basically, don't do XYZ SEO technique because you'll get penalized for it, or don't do XYZ because it doesn't work anymore.

Basically, I get the feeling that search engines are working around the clock to make quality sites rise to the top and filter out those which try to take advantage of search engines to rise to the top, i.e., SEO.

So what to do? Is SEO even with bothering with? It sort of seems like it's inevitable that Google will figure out ways to filter out any things done intentionally to influence search engine rankings/results. So is it better to just write naturally and make a website without regard to SEO, trusting that eventually Google will reward those who don't try to take advantage of the system?