This E-Book will teach you the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Why Learn SEO?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a set of best practices for getting a website or page ranked as highly as possible in one of the top search engines. SEOs (people who do search engine optimization) like to refer to “search engines†in the generic sense to be democratic, but in reality, Google is the search engine that
is targeted most often. If a web page is ranked as the top result in Google, a similar ranking will very likely follow in Yahoo and Bing. Throughout this book, we’ll use “Google†and “search engine(s)†synonymously, since Google’s indexing algorithm sets the agenda for all other general purpose search engines.
SEO is a constantly moving target. Many tips and concepts that worked famously two or three years ago have either diminished in effectiveness, or are even counterproductive to implement at this point. Unfortunately, no one in the SEO world has the last word on what works and what doesn’t with 100% authority. The reason is
simple: search engines use proprietary algorithms (computational rules and procedures) for deciding which
pages command higher rankings in search results. If everyone knew how Google’s algorithm worked, everyone
would game the system. All we can do from the outside is draw from years of experience, looking at different
properties of high ranking websites and trying to find commonalities.
One of the most consistent features of pages on the first page of Google is a relatively large number of inbound links. Suppose you wrote the world’s greatest blog post on container gardening. Theoretically,
outstanding content gets circulated more than average or mediocre content. So, when other home and garden sites address the topic of container gardening, they might reference your article in the form of a link, and your post could wind up with thousands of links pointing to it. When you look up “iPhone†in Google, the
top result is almost always Apple, since the vast majority of iPhone-related content has links to Apple’s website.
Some webmasters and Internet marketers take the reductionist view that links are the only factor that really matters in SEO. On the opposite extreme, some blogging gurus insist that all that matters is writing good content, implying that Google’s search results are a meritocracy. Both arguments have serious flaws which will be addressed throughout the book.
