Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is rapidly trading the importance of coding techniques in favor of content and popularity. So, before you spend your SEO budget implementing outdated techniques, read on. Google is hip to sites that artificially inflate their rankings with reciprocal links, unoriginal content and keyword-loaded copy. Sudden shifts in the number of in-bound links or the number of pages added to a site will be seen as suspicious. Google favors those sites that grow steadily over a long period of time and whose in-bound links are gained at a steady pace. SEO is not just a programming technique; it's a content opportunity. If your site provides information that is useful to the online community, in-bound links and traffic will follow and Google will take note. Keyword density is a red flag, so don't overload your site with keywords. But if a term you'd like to rank for doesn't appear prominently on your site, you probably won't rank well – having a good amount of copy on your site is important. There is no magic bullet for ranking well in the search engines; a comprehensive listing of factors can be found at the link below. My advice? Ask not what your web programmer can do for your ranking, but what you can offer the online community. http://www.seomoz.org/articles/search-ranking-factors.php