Customer Reviews

Search Engine Positioning (With CD-ROM)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Search engine positioning is a dynamic environment; ranking algorithms, alliances, submission rules, and fees (usually escalating!) are in a constant state of flux. Despite this fact, the basics of a long-term search engine positioning, and online business strategy remain the same, and are amazingly simple.

1) Identify the keywords and phrases that people use to search for that which your site offers.

2) Write the copy of your site such that is emphasizes the words and phrases used by your audience.

3) Keep in mind #2 and pay close attention to Title and Meta tags, incoming links (link popularity), link text, page headers, image names and alt text, and last but not least, the actual content on your site. It's one thing to generate traffic, but quite another to convert that traffic into business! - Pick up a copy of "Net Words" by Nick Usborne for more on content.

4) Ensure a search engine can index the critical pages of your site.

5) Submit where necessary and pay particular attention to directory submissions. Once in place, they can be very difficult to change. There is some good info on submitting to YAHOO!, but if you want to attain rankings in MSN (via LookSmart) this book does not provide the know-how for that.

"Search Engine Positioning" discusses each of these steps, some in more detail than others. It provides engine-by-engine analysis (many of which no longer exist or have changed drastically - remember things change quickly here!) that details how each search site ranks sites and the interrelationships between indices that may be syndicated across multiple search sites. This book will get you started in the arena of search engine optimization and highlight specific page elements that require special attention, how to select keywords, the difference between search engines and directories, as well as where to submit to show up in the search results for a particular engine.

The book includes sites of interest including Search Engine Watch and those of various search engine submission and optimization services. WebMasterWorld and SearchEngineForums, two of the best SEP resource sites were curiously omitted from the list. They both pick up where this book leaves off, and provide forums where the most up-to-date industry information can often be found. Any print publication will be somewhat outdated the moment it is publshed.

If you are new to the world of search engine positioning, pick up this book (It appears Fredrick is coming out with a new book - if so you might want to wait for it - the information should be much more up-to-date). It is easily worth 35 bucks to have a single source of information to get started. From there, take your learning online, experiment, use the many forums available, and don't get overwhelmed by the hype out there. Positioning is a process, not a project, be persistent and you too can top the charts!

This book is very complete, and almost a definitive reference to the 'state of the art' at the time it was written. For anyone aspiring to work full time in this field, it's a five-star work. Of course, information changes rapidly in this field, and some of the content is already dated, and there have been important developments since its publication.

Where I think it falls short is in failing to deliver a good "fast food" solution for those who don't have 40 hours a week dedicated to search engine positioning. All of the information is in here, but there's no clear sense of what the top priority actions should be, for a typical small website.

As search engine experts go, you can't do much better than the author and his team at iProspect.com. If you've got the time to work through a dense 500+ pages, and apply the knowledge, this is a great book for you.

As the Web grows by an estimated 6 million documents a day and with search engines indexing less than half the Web, making sure your site is easily found is imperative. Fredrick Marckini's new book "Search Engine Positioning" shows you how.

Search Engine Positioning (SEP) uses strategic keyword selection and placement throughout your pages' HTML to achieve high rankings in search results. In effect, you are creating tempting spider food for the various arachnids search engines use to crawl the Web.

Marckini, founder and CEO of iProspect.com and one of the pioneers in SEP, aims the book directly at SEP professionals and webmasters who want to learn the latest techniques. His goal is to legitimize SEP as its own discipline and to create "a compendium of information for the aspiring search engine professional." He aims "to provide information needed to 'top the charts' and attain top 10 to 30 rankings."

SEP, otherwise known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), has its share of shady practitioners that practice what is known as "spamdexing." Marckini is not one of them. He travels the high road, emphasizing responsible SEP to "amplify" your key phrases within your pages.

At WebReference.com we can attest to the effectiveness of responsible SEP that Marckini advocates. After taking Danny Sullivan's "Search Engine Bootcamp," a private tutorial for Internet.com staff, we brainstormed our top keyword phrases, found their frequency of use, crafted catchy descriptions and titles, and placed them within our TITLE and META tags of WebRef's home page and key gateway pages. After resubmitting these pages to the major search engines and directories the effect was dramatic. Our referrals from search engines rose substantially. Having lots of backlinks didn't hurt either with engines that use popularity to rank relevance.

Marckini's book goes deeper than this. The basic strategy is to weave keyword themes throughout your key pages, using your TITLE tag, keyword and description META tags, headlines, the first and last 25 words, links, ALT tags, file names, and best of all domain names. Marckini shows that SEP is an ongoing process, not a one-time thing, as search engines and rankings change constantly. However, we found that even a one-time keyword makeover has a long-lasting effect.

Marckini's 553-page book covers the entire spectrum of SEP and has a number of interesting tidbits ranging from search engine history, choosing keywords and domain names, through actual case studies and the future of SEP.

In addition to meta-tagging your key pages, the author covers gateway, informational, hallway, and cloaked pages. Separate keyword-rich domains can be used to drive traffic to your site, although some search engines would consider this spam.

The author also recommends using full keywords, not abbreviations, within your file names, and emphasizing unique phrases over common phrases within your pages to achieve higher relevance.

Web design is an often overlooked aspect of amateur SEP. Search engines favor simple HTML markup, with keywords in the first 3K of your page. Using linked CSS for layout and presentation, and/or cleverly formatted tables that push your keyword-rich content towards the top (before your nav bars) will help achieve higher rankings.

Show Chapter 39 to your skeptical boss. It charts in dramatic fashion the effect of SEP on keyword ranking, search engine referrals, and brand awareness. In fact, studies have shown that users are five times more likely to buy when they arrive at your site through a search engine than through a banner ad.

In short Marckini shows you what to do to raise your rankings, and what not to do to avoid banishment. The author takes his own medicine, liberally sprinkling iProspect.com throughout the book.

This is the best book you can buy on search engine positioning hands down. If you are looking to do SEP yourself, this definitely is the book to get.

If you're totally new to SEP, or if you have already had experience with it, this book is invaluable to both categories of people. If you need some hand holding, start out at the beginning; otherwise, if you're more advanced, it's easy to jump from chapter to chapter. The book covers everything in great detail. It's a great learning tool as well as a great reference tool.

In addition to being a very informative book, Fredrick writes in a style that is easy to read. This book is huge, yet I read it in a single day.

You don't have to worry about the book going out of date, either, because Fredrick keeps updates to chapters on his site.

Before I read Fredrick's book, I thought I knew a few things about SEP. He helped me build on what I knew and corrected some of my misperceptions.

My site's traffic went from a couple hundred unique visitors each day, to nearly 10,000 unique visitors each day. And on top of that, this growth occurred in just 5 months.

If you are serious about generating more traffic to your site, this book is essential.

Fredrick is the authority on SEP.

This is a must-have book for any small business that wants more customers from the Internet. Most small businesses cannot afford an expensive Internet marketing firm to come in and work their black magic to improve their search engine ranking. Mr. Marckini's book provides any small business with the knowledge base to do it themselves - and you don't have to be an expert. Marckini de-mystifies the whole positioning process. His explanations are clear, easy to understand and full of examples.

The book is thick because it is comprehensive, but don't let that intimidate you. Its logical layout, the scan friendly format, and detailed Table of Contents supports subject hopping as well as a pleasurable cover-to-cover read. The first time I read the book was on a cross-country flight and I kept finding myself exclaiming "Wow!" out loud. (I was so absorbed I wasn't even aware I was doing it until the person next to me on the flight asked me what I was reading.)

Actions speak louder than words. This is a book you will use over and over again. I am on my second copy of the book. I literally wore out my first copy because I used it so much in my day to day work. Seriously - I work at a small Internet company and thanks to the information in Marckini's book, our company has been able to slash its advertising dollars, and still increase our revenue. How? We put search engines to work for us using the techniques described in this book.

I enjoyed the entire book, but as I look at my well worn copy the chapter with the most highlighting and notes in the margins is Chapter 10: Search Engine Positioning Begins with Web Site Design. I benefited most from this Chapter because my original site was in dire need of help. I applied some of the workarounds and corrections I learned from this book during the redesign of our site and we quickly saw our search engine traffic quadruple. This book provides the answers, and if you take the time to apply them, you will achieve the same results as an Internet marketing firm - without the expense.

Having been an avid reader of Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Watch for a couple of years now, I was intrigued by the title of this book.

From the minute I picked it up, I was engrossed in the technical details and Internet history specifics of search engines. I think to really appreciate this book, you have to be an Internet history lover first.

After reading the extensive search engine history, I was immediately intrigued by the technical depth of the book. This book is definitely not for Internet beginners. If you need to learn elementary concepts on search engines, this book is probably not for you.

However, if you're a technical reader and interested in the possibility of becoming a search engine positioning expert yourself someday, this book is a great start.

Excellent...Satisfying...Advanced...Great research. Thanks for such a great technical manual!

This book is mainly for those interested in pursuing a career in search engine optimization. It covers all the basics involved in modifying a site for better visibility as well as the history behind search engines. Some of the chapters which are engine specific are a bit outdated, but that is understandable considering how rapidly changes occur in this particular field. It belongs on the shelf of a search engine optimizer or any web professional who is interested in the in-depth information the it provides.
I do think that the companion CD is a piece of fluff and an unecessary addition.

This book can serve many different purposes: yes, it can help you kick start a career in the very competitive field of SEP (Search Engine Position -how clever, ah?); yes, it can help you boost your positionings, by the implementation of a handful of techniques, at the HTML code level, by helping you pick (maybe more, and) better keywords; and at the search engine level, itself.

However, there's a few things to take into consideration when jumping into it: this is not a quick fix book, meaning, SEP is almost an art with some very delicate balances (do I position this keyword in the title, or in two-three places throughout the first 25 words of the document?), and a very dynamic one. Also, any changes that effect the HTML in your site, or what/how you submit to search engines, can take several weeks until you can start seizing the results for it.

In order to stay current with the evolution of Web Design, and the brilliant skills of Web marketers who constantly outwit them (for a while) the algorithms Search Engines use to rank submissions vary from time to time. As a result of this, the contents of this book is almost like fresh bread: it's worth reading as soon as possible, because substantial portions of it (two thirds of it, to be more precise, which are devoted to specifics about the top Search Engines) can and will change over the course of the next few months/years.

Having said all of this, I highly recommend the book. I'm using it myself on a daily basis to help improve the rankings for the two web sites we manage at my work, and it's worked wonders for us. It can do the same for you, but get it quick!

It took me a couple weeks to get through this book, but I'm very glad I took the time. There is amazing detail about almost every important engine out there. If you follow the guidelines in this book, your site will see significant increases in your site rankings. You should also check out Search Engine Visibility. The combination of the two books will do amazing things for your site.

Fredrick's book is a useful resource for anyone who is new to the arena of search engine optimization. Fredrick provides a very good overview of all of the major details of getting good placement and ranking on the major directories and search engines. Unfortunately (and this is a problem with all printed resources that have a lengthy period before publication) the material gets a bit dated when looking at the most current methods to get the best rankings on the various engines. Still a worthy purchase (even at the price) for those needing information on this subject.