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If I could offer two pieces of advice to someone learning SEO they would be: #1 - Learn from the most authentic sources. Read sites like Google Webmaster Central, watch videos from Matt Cutts (Youtube.com search Matt Cutts) and read or ask questions on SEOmoz. There are a few other great sites out there but for every good site there seems to be many bad ones. If you aren't sure, just ask! #2 - Proper SEO should feel good and, for the most part, make sense. You are looking to build authentic, long term value for your business. If you wind up performing actions which feel fake, stop and question those actions. Ask here in the Q&A. Steps such as submitting to free link directories, looking for chinese blogs who don't nofollow links and similar forms of obtaining links aren't likely to add an value at all to your site, and may actually harm your site.