SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

 SEO or search engine optimization is a practice to help websites get higher search rankings. Generally basic SEO includes getting back-links (links from other websites that point to yours), title and header tags with the key words you're targeting. There are a slew other things that professional SEO’s do to help their clients sites rise in the search engine results. Mainly they do a great deal of work on link building campaigns.

 Certain tactics that certain professional SEOs use are frowned upon or penalized by search engines, if they are caught, and other professional SEOs. Most pro SEOs don’t do anything that will get their client’s website penalized or removed from a search engine’s database.

 Yes it does to varying degrees. Generally the more experienced and into it you are the better the results are. It also helps if you visit reputable SEO forums and websites to get tips and stuff. People who say SEO is just a buzz word/phrase probably don’t know anything about SEO.

Forums and websites made by search engine optimizers can help you learn the basics of copywriting/SEO.

Cre8asite has a pretty active community of professional search engine optimizers. If you ask a question in one of the ‘Search Engine Optimization’ category’s forums, you should be able to get a detailed response or you’ll be directed to a thread where your question has been answered.

v7n.net features articles about search engine opitmization, search engine marketing and reviews on various marketing and SEO books.

WebMaster World is an extremely old forum. There are tons of threads about everything, it’s not very organized though. The information at WMW is generally very accurate.

Search Engine Blog is a web log, blog for short. The blogger(s) posts news about search engines, SEO, and a some other stuff. Every now and then they interview a SEO or a SEM.