Search Engine Visibility [Paperback]

Shari Thurow (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0735712565 | ISBN-13: 978-0735712560 | Publication Date: January 9, 2003 | Edition: 1

Search Engine Visibility is not about merely obtaining top positions in search search results. Rather, Search Engine Visibility is about designing, writing, and creating a web site primarily for your site's visitors, adn helping them find what they are searching for via the major search engines, directories, and industry-related sites.

This book teaches developers, designers, programmers, and online marketers what pitfalls to avoid from the beginning so they can provide their clients with more effective site designs.

"Shari Thurow has been consistently one of the best rated speakers at our SearchEngineStrategies.com conferences for her ample advice on how to build web sites that 'naturally' attract traffic from search engines. Now she puts that advice into print, creating a great companion book for anyone involved with constructing web sites. The book teaches you how to create web pages that please search engines and human visitors alike." --Danny Sullivan, Editor, SearchEngineWatch.com

"The SEO industry can be a huge pitfall for the uninitiated. Fraud, gimmicks, and misunderstanding run rampant. Which is why we are so fortunate to have Shari Thurow in the field. Shari is a straightforward, knowledgeable, perceptive, and experienced practitioner of search engine optimization, marketing, and placement. She knows what it takes to get top positions in the major search engines and--even more importantly--knows what not to do to avoid being blacklisted. Shari is a trusted and active voice in the SEO field, and she always stays abreast of the latest changes."--Adam Audette, Owner, Adventive.com, home of I-Search discussion list; Moderator, bCentral Daily Digest

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Search Engine Visibility is not about merely obtaining top positions in search search results. Rather, Search Engine Visibility is about designing, writing, and creating a web site primarily for your site's visitors, adn helping them find what they are searching for via the major search engines, directories, and industry-related sites.

This book teaches developers, designers, programmers, and online marketers what pitfalls to avoid from the beginning so they can provide their clients with more effective site designs.

"Shari Thurow has been consistently one of the best rated speakers at our SearchEngineStrategies conferences for her ample advice on how to build web sites that 'naturally' attract traffic from search engines. Now she puts that advice into print, creating a great companion book for anyone involved with constructing web sites. The book teaches you how to create web pages that please search engines and human visitors alike." --Danny Sullivan, Editor, SearchEngineWatch"The SEO industry can be a huge pitfall for the uninitiated. Fraud, gimmicks, and misunderstanding run rampant. Which is why we are so fortunate to have Shari Thurow in the field. Shari is a straightforward, knowledgeable, perceptive, and experienced practitioner of search engine optimization, marketing, and placement. She knows what it takes to get top positions in the major search engines and--even more importantly--knows what not to do to avoid being blacklisted. Shari is a trusted and active voice in the SEO field, and she always stays abreast of the latest changes."--Adam Audette, Owner, Adventive, home of I-Search discussion list; Moderator, bCentral Daily Digest

About the Author

Shari Thurow is a sought-after speaker and trainer on the topics of search engine-friendly web site design, web copywriting, and link development. A popular speaker at Search Engine Strategies, web site design, and online marketing conferences worldwide, Shari's sessions are very popular and four-star rated.

Shari Thurow is the webmaster and marketing director for GrantasticDesigns.com. She has been designing and promoting web sites since 1995, and she is outsourced to many firms throughout the United States. She has a 100 percent success rate for getting client sites ranked at the top of search engine and directory queries.

Shari has designed and successfully marketed web sites for businesses in fields such as medicine, finance, science, biotechnology, software, computers, online stores, e-commerce, real estate, manufacturing, art and design, marketing, insurance, employment, education, and law. Shari is also the founder of the I-Design Discussion List, which discusses all aspects of effective web design, including look and feel, navigation, ease of use, database management, and download speed.

Shari has been featured in many publications, including PC World, Crain's Chicago Business, Inc., MacWorld, and ComputerUser.com. She has also received numerous design awards and content awards, including top web site honors from Lycos, Business 2.0, and Computer User Magazine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press; 1 edition (January 9, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735712565
• ISBN-13: 978-0735712560
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,486,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Shari Thurow, Founder and SEO Director of Omni Marketing Interactive, has designed and promoted Web sites since 1995. As the leading expert on search-engine friendly Web design and search usability, Shari lectures on these topics worldwide and is currently working on her third book.

As a self-proclaimed "search geek," Shari is fascinated with how people discover and locate desired content. Her areas of interest include information architecture, search/browsing behaviors, information retrieval systems, and interaction design. Other passions include Metallica, Iceland (beautiful country and wonderful people), Japanese literature and culture, and French wine.

Shari holds an MA in Asian Studies (Japanese) and a BA in Genetics and Developmental Biology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Omni Marketing Interactive is a full-service search engine optimization, Web design, and Web site usability firm.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Experts pass your way, this book is for newbies, February 3, 2003

By 

Gilles Belin "mcgil" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Search Engine Visibility (Paperback)

I read this book over the weekend and my advice to you all SEOer, pass your way ... you won't learn anything new.

I'm sorry :) if I was not supposed to read this book, but this is clearly material aimed at beginners to website development and to search engine promotion.

Moreover the 5 chapters that compose this book (sold for 300 pages) span over 225 pages with a third-of-the-page right margin ... this book could be half its size.The rest is forewords, introduction, link list, glossary, index and a free chapter of another book "Speed up your web site" (nothing-new-here-also).

The five chapters are :

- Before you build (36 pages)
- How to build better web pages (72p)
- Page design workarounds (47p)
- After your site is built (47p)
- Best practices : the Dos and Don'ts of Search Engine Marketing (17p)

I only give two stars now because nowhere is this book clearly advertised as a book for beginners.

The back-cover tells : "This book teaches developers, designers, programmers, and online marketers what pitfalls to avoid from the beginning so they can provide their clients with more effective site designs" ... I find it hard to believe that we can still find developers and designers... that don't know those basic facts about website building.

But give me that book 5 years ago and I would have loved it :)

33 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I'm keeping this book with my old mags!, August 3, 2004

By 

Y. Cheong "xianjian" (Norman, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Search Engine Visibility (Paperback)

Only half of the book talks about how to work with search engines. The rest of the book is filled with quick and dirty type of discussions about web usability -- you can get a better usability book than this.

If you are a technical person, forget about buying this book; you can find better information off the Web (or better still, you already know what she has to say!) If you are a non-technical person, I'd recommend you to do some research on the Web and spend your hard earned money somewhere else.

The book is now pilled up with my old magazines in my bathroom for occasional quick reading.

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Mostly Fluff -- Little Depth, June 12, 2003

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Search Engine Visibility (Paperback)

I agree with the guy who said that the book is mostly her opinion on what makes good designs.

There is very little actual SEO information and what can be found is very basic in nature. You can find much more information from free websites.

There is also an excessive amount of fluff. For instance she spends an entire page explaining what a URL is. Maybe she thought her target audience was the Internet ignorant.

She also contradicts herself sometimes. For instance she uses the example of a site called "TranquiliTeas" and says that it would be unethical to separate the run-on just to increase keyword density because that is not the true site name. One inch down on the page she then advocates leaving off ".Inc" for this exactly purpose. (actually she claims that its because people don't search for "Inc." but of course people don't search for "TranquiliTeas" either). In any case you're doing the same thing, changing the actual company name to increase relevance. Depending on which part of the page you're reading its either spam or good practice.

Of course if you want my opinion the correct advice would be to plan for promotion before you form your business, and so when naming your business include a space between your keywords. So in other words, don't name your site "CarParts" name it "Car Parts." Problem solved.

My recommendation? Don't buy it, but if you must have it find it at a library (if possible). It'll only take a day or so to get the few bits of useful info out of the book.