I believe that as long as good, original copy is your main focus, you're golden. Too much of an obsession on SEO and chasing algorithm changes is bad news and takes too much effort and time that could otherwise be spent creating more pages.
Good SEO is important, but not moreso than content. The visitor experience is first and foremost. Create a positive one and you're apt to get some nice backlinks.
The more and higher-quality backlinks you get, the more the search engines are going to sit up and take notice of your web site.
Content first
Good title and description next. Do your keyword research and find what your visitors are searching for.
Good keyword density on your pages.
Rinse and repeat.
That's what I do and it works well for me.
Regards,
Tony