Search Engine Optimization

Over at imgiseverything.co.uk, Phil Thompson has written up an excellent case study dealing with onsite and onpage factors of Search Engine Optimization.

He provides some background information and goes into detail about how typical things like titles and category names weren't optimised and how the CMS being used was not outputting search engine friendly urls.

He also had to deal with a few other issues which resulted in adding some user (and SE) friendly content, as well as some cross sell style links that would also benefit both the user and the search engine.

Nice work Phil, and great to see a thorough example of onsite cleanup documented like this!

Adam Audette provides an excellent post on building links, which he concludes with:

...what’s the most efficient method of building powerful backlinks?

The answer is simple, but the way is hard: you must build exceptional resources and provide information that’s unique and valuable. Only then will you succeed long-term in link building, and therefore, internet marketing.

The more things change, the more they stay the same: content will always be king.

An great guide to SEO that includes most aspects that need to be dealt with when making sure your site ranks high in the search engines. Would be suitable for passing on to knowledgable clients as a reference.

If you've ever had to build a number of websites from the same database, you've had to think about duplicate content. This article from Todd Malicoat - another of his long writeups with a load of extra reading - provides some excellent explanation into the problems faced when you have one set of content and many sites to build.

Clients don't always want to pay for more copywriting; so this article will either serve to help you convince them that it is necessary, or if that doesn't happen, help you deal with the card you're dealt.

I sure do get tired of people badmouthing the SEO industry and have thought about ranting on this site about it in the past. I didn't because, although we do some work in the field, we just don't swing a big enough bat.

In comes Danny Sullivan, with perhaps the biggest bat in the industry, to set the record straight with this excellent post over at Search Engine Land. I'm not sure that it will convert people who blindly drop everyone in the same bucket when there are bad seeds around, but it's nice to read nonetheless.

None other then Danny Sullivan provides this thoughtful writeup on Google's PageRank.

A Guide For Searchers & Webmasters should be a good start for people just getting into the game, and a great place to get some authoritative quotes when you need them in a client presentation.

The post goes fairly in-depth, but as the first commenter states If only this were required reading before anyone could register to post on an SEO forum...

I hesitate to post these types of links because of their ephemeral nature, but the historical aspect of this post makes it worthwhile. Aaron Wall provides an update on Google's latest ranking methods after giving a brief rundown on things since the Florida update. Worth the read; the User Browsing Graph and his anecdotal evidence was a surprise to me.