Search Engine Optimization for Dummies [Paperback]

Peter Kent (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764567586 | ISBN-13: 978-0764567582 | Publication Date: April 23, 2004

“If we build it, they will come.”

Unfortunately, in the field of Web sites, that’s an unfulfilled dream. Having a Web site does not automatically guarantee having traffic, even if you register the site with appropriate search engines. Whether you’re an e-tailer who wants customers, a business that wants clients, or an organization that wants to get your message out, Search Engine Optimization For Dummies explains the rules of the game with information on:

• Spiders—not the yucky kind, but the software that grabs Web pages, and then,,reads and indexes the information
• Search indexes or engines, search directories, non-spidered indexes, and pay-per-click systems
• The eight search systems you really need to impress and how to get your pages into them
• Keywords and how to choose them strategically and use them often
• Submitting to the directories, including the biggies (Yahoo! Directory and the Open Director Project) and second-tier directories
• Using shopping directories for e-commerce sites, complete with a list of nine popular ones and CPCs (cost per click) for various types of merchandise on various sites

Written by Peter Kent, e-commerce consultant, popular speaker, and critically-acclaimed author, Search Engine Optimization For Dummies helps you build a search engine- friendly site (or fix an existing site) and build traffic, showing you how to:

• Use effective Web site structure and text, including filenames, directory structure, title tags, descriptive meta tags, keyword meta tags, and an HTML navigation system,
• Avoid things search engines avoid, such as frames, invisible navigation systems, including those created with Java applets, Java Scripts and Macromedia Flash, cluttered sites overloaded with HTML unrelated to content, and more
• Bulk up your site with content—original or recycled
• Use specialized search systems to attract valuable, highly targeted traffic
• Use link popularity to boost your position and your PageRank

Complete with a tear-out cheat sheet and information about Web sites you may want to hit for even more information, Search Engine Optimization For Dummies will help you make the Web site hit list.

Editorial Reviews

Review

  “…required reading for anyone with a presence on the internet…better than the rest…might be the best investment you ever make…” (ITWales.com, August 2004)

“..money well spent if you’re serious about boosting your web potential…” (4 stars…)” (Internet Works, October 2004)

From the Back Cover

Build sites search engines love, and see your business boom

Find out how to make your site pop to the top when the search is on

Search engines, search directories, search systems – it’s enough to make you search for antacids! Well, relax – this book not only tells you which is which, it gives you the inside track on which ones to impress. Find out about pay-per-click search engine advertising, what your site needs to lure search engines, how and where to register, and more.

The Dummies Way

• Explanations in plain English
• "Get in, get out" information
• Icons and other navigational aids
• Tear-out cheat sheet
• Top ten lists
• A dash of humor and fun

Discover how to:

• Choose powerful keywords for your pages
• Increase visibility in search engines
• Avoid penalties
• Encourage other sites to link to yours
• Track your hits
• Use pay-per-click advertising productively

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies (April 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764567586
• ISBN-13: 978-0764567582
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (148 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #899,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

134 of 139 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Necessarily for Dummies, April 20, 2005

By 

Don Bistrow "Glass Man, Trunk Man" (Eastern Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Search Engine Optimization for Dummies (Paperback)

I suppose with an average of 5-Stars my review ranking makes me the curmudgeon since I offer only 3-Stars. Dummies books many times become complicated because they flounder around instead of getting straight to the subject matter, this book is no exception. While offering a plethora of important and valuable information the writings start, stop and go back and forth too often. I was armed with a highlighter and notepad but found myself constantly referencing back and forth, forced to re-read passages to collect all the data important to optimize according to the authors recommendations.

An example is discussing topics, which engage the readers interest only to suddenly stop with, "More on this subject in Chapter X." Ok, so I put my highlighter down until later. This becomes frustrating. Discuss highlights in the book with an introduction and get to the point in one place, not later in several places. The checklist offered on the inside cover is a nice highlight and covering the topics once again in an introduction should be enough and will lead to less confusion.

As with all tech books, without any fault to the author, the subject matter becomes dated quickly. This is the case with SEO for Dummies but the basics offered are valuable as a starting point in optimizing your web site. Although keywords, content and reciprocal linking are stressed heavily, my own inadvertent experiment has shown content to actually be at least as valuable if not more important than incoming links for high-ranking sites. As an example, I have two web-blogs with Google rankings of 2 and 3 respectively which have virtually no incoming links only a lot of content. In these cases content proves extremely valuable. These blogs are relatively young.

The author makes an attempt to explain Googles algorithm but fails miserably to make a point, and serves no purpose in advancing SEO knowledge and very little is mentioned about the Google "Sandbox" which is the initial purgatory new sites are sent to while Google decides a web sites worthiness. Understanding the sandbox in extremely important so the Webmaster pro or amateur realizes page ranking comes with sweat equity and patience.

My largest disappointment came when visiting the authors web site which was not up to date and had several "dead links." At this writing his Google site ranking is 5/10, which is very good but one must practice what they preach and these instances were glaring errors. Another problem is the author spends time discounting the use of "Frames/Frameset" but his site uses frames as viewed in the source code. If they should be avoided why does his site contain them?

I recommend this book if purchased with a deep discount. Next thoroughly read and digest the research information at www.marketingexperiments.com and incorporate all your information and experience into a business plan using their template. In combination with SEO for Dummies your site will be enhanced for SEO and you'll have a deeper understanding of Google and other methods of SEO to increase site traffic as well as page ranking.

71 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, February 3, 2005

By 

J. F. Heinrich (Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Search Engine Optimization for Dummies (Paperback)

I am a neophyte in web design and have a tech person in another city who has just started doing web design. She designed our websites but was not up on optimazation, and I wasn't either. We both ordered the book and have now designed two websites using it.

The first searches fairly well but it wasn't being found at all until we used the suggestions/instructions from the book so it certainly helped.

The second site was designed using the suggestions for titles, descriptions and keywords. I also believe the designer used all of the other directions for other parts of the site. We are just trying to get the site recognized at this point.

I would have to say, at least for myself, we would have not known any of the "secrets" to getting recognized without using the book. I am confident over time we wil get both sites readily recognized by the engines. It does seem to be somewhat of a science and the book help a lot.

I personally highly recommend the book and I don't normally give out 5's for anything, a big help.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE this book!, August 18, 2006

By 

Beth Whitman "www.WanderlustAndLipstick.com" (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Search Engine Optimization For Dummies, Second Edition (For Dummies (Computers)) (Paperback)

While in the process of working on my new website, I came across this book and ordered it right away based on other reviews. I was not disappointed. It's a must for anyone getting ready to launch a new site or anyone wanting to drive more traffic to their already built site. Even if you think you know a lot about keywords and SEO, this is an excellent buy. It did for me what a company specializing in SEO wanted to do for $8,000. I'm sure the SEO company would have provided an excellent service, but by reading this book, I've learned how to do it myself and will now know how to tweak my site in the future.