I was watching the news before I got up on Saturday morning, and after hearing there was going to be a bulletin about how people are now "'Cheating' the search engines" I decided to pay a little more attention than I normally would watching TV at that time of morning.

I'm quite a fan of the BBC Click program, where they discuss a range of technology and online advances from DRM (Digital Rights Management - protection for media files) to digital video compression.

This week they were discussing Search Engine Optimisation (April 7th Show if you are looking for it in their archives). However, I feel that there may have been some misconceptions that were propagated in this article/show, as I do not think that the majority of Search Engine Optimisers are cheating the search engines.

In my opinion, we are changing sites so that we fit as perfecty as possible to the guidelines that are published by the search engines, ensure we don't do anything that could get a site banned, or use tried and tested techniques that the search engines do not necessarily talk about, but we know work regardless.

The feature also spoke about "Google Bombs" which is slightly out of date now, although a wealth of information can be found from other sources about these.

Generally I think it is good that SEO is looking like it is coming into mainstream consciousness. However, I think it is important that the correct language is used, as I do not consider myself to be cheating a system for a living, and don't want others to take these misconceptions on board.

I now know hundreds of people who make, own or maintain a website, but very few know how to make the most of marketing that website, so Search Engine Optimisation will continue to play a vital role in ensuring that these websites are successful.