Where can i learn about search engine crawling and SEO?

Question

I have asked What should i know about search engine crawling? Now i would like to know where can i learn about search engines and search engines optimization? Instead of reading dozen of articles with most saying the same thing as another i would like to read one book or resource and find everything i need to know.

Answer 1

That's hard to answer.

1. I wouldn't recommend a book, because before anything about SEO gets into print, a lot of it will be outdated, so I'd rather stick to up-to-date online resources.
2. There are different approaches to SEO (e.g. "black hat" / "white hat" SEO) so considering only one resource will only give you part of the picture.
3. Some approaches will only be opinions so checking different resources should clear things up for you better than a single one could.

So I guess to "find everything you need to know" you'll have to check a lot of different resources / articles / forums, etc. etc. and then see what works best for you (and how much time and effort you'd like to spend) ...

Answer 2

The best kind of SEO is having really good and readable content on your site. :)

Answer 3

A lot of this comes from personal information so go and ask anyone who has a website. You will find most of it is intuitive and common sense. What my friend does is get a little kid to look at it and point to whatever sticks out. It is an easy way to check what is showing up on your website. Try to draw attention to the key parts of the website. http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/. Also, check out

http://www.googleguide.com/google_works.html
http://www.seotutorial.info/
http://www.webconfs.com/seo-tutorial/

Answer 4

Avinash Kaushik is a well known expert on all things web/analytics/customer related. His first book "Web Analytics, an hour a day" is excellent. He has since released a second book, "Web Analytics 2.0", which I own but have yet found the time to read. He used to work for Intuit, now works for Google.

You can read his blog, Occam's Razor. Both of his books are mentioned on the right hand side (scroll down a bit).

If you are going to read one book, read either of the two books written by him.

I read his book after reading other books dedicated to just SEO, or just Google. I still found interesting things in his book that I didn't elsewhere. After reading his book you'll have a lot to think about and some very good ideas what you want to read next (or not read).

I've seen some slideshows/webinars given by him. He is entertaining, humourous, engaging, definitely intelligent and doesn't mince his words about stuff he doesn't like. If you get a chance to watch any of his stuff, do so.

Unlike many bloggers, you can find his email address AND he actually answers email you send him.

If you want a straight SEO book this isn't it, but highly recommended nonetheless.

Answer 5

I'd say don't bother spending too much time. SEO is simple:

• Titles in URL
• Title in h1
• Have a sitemap
• Get links from popular sites into your site
• and... QUALITY & SPECIFIC CONTENT

I know this doesn't answer your question directly, however I feel you'll probably find better answers on stack overflow than in a book. That link to Google Webmaster Guidelines is a good resource too.

Answer 6

SEO Book is a very informative website.

http://www.seobook.com/

Check that out.

Answer 7

For SEO and crawling, instead of trying to outsmart Google and others, it is easier and more effective to listen to Google and follow their guidelines.

Here is a 22 page PDF about SEO from Google: Google's Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide

Another useful Google PDF: Making the Most of your Content

Matt Cutts's blog (a Google engineer): PageRank and other SEO Topics

How PageRank works from Wikipedia: PageRank in Wikipedia

Answer 8

Go to http://www.seomoz.org. You'll find a ton of information and a number of tools to get you started.