I've been telling clients and prospects for years that there aren't any lasting shortcuts to great search engine results. Back in the ancient days of unrelated meta tags and premium Yahoo listings, there seemed to be ways to game the system and get your site listed higher than your competitors. The problem with that approach was that Yahoo, and on a much grander scale, Google, kept changing the rules of the game, meaning that last week's SEO strategy was a losing proposition today.

The best idea to drive people to your site is the same technique used for generations in any creative field: make great content and promote it with an intensely personal approach. Get your new friends to do your promotion for you. Then do it again.

That's why I found myself nodding in agreement (and not for the first time, either) with Jeff Jarvis today on his BuzzMachine blog. In a post about the increasing personalization of Google's search results, Jeff writes:

But as Google gets better at personal relevance through everything it knows about us — and it knows more and more — then your search for wine may be different from mine and there is no absolute value for placement in results and Googlejuice, no?

What does that mean to brands? The world gets confusing once more. But I think it means that true relevance becomes more important than SEO tricks. It also means that the more relationships you have with people — the more they talk about you and link to you and click on you — the better off you will be.

Imagine... your site becomes a popular destination not because you could outspend your competition, but because you're providing more relevant information. How very quaint.

There are, naturally, always those who will promise the "quick fix" method of getting what you want, whether it's weight loss, debt reduction or search engine optimization. Don't take shortcuts, though, because in the long view the game will continue to change and force you to come up with a new way to cheat.

Here's a better idea: write what you know, write what interests you, write what you really care about, then use the amazing social networking tools we have at our disposal to make connections with others who share your vision. Maybe it's not about having thousands of lukewarm visitors to your site per day, but instead one or two who really care. It's the old concept of a qualified lead. Create your blog or your site for those people, and let Google's organic search algorithms do the rest.