The Truth About Search Engine Optimization [Paperback]

Rebecca Lieb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 23, 2009 | ISBN-10: 0789738317 | ISBN-13: 978-0789738318 | Edition: 1

“Rebecca’s book is chapter-by-chapter gold for anyone who needs to understand how we find information on the Web.”

Kevin M. Ryan, Motivity Marketing, Inc., and Chairman of Search Engine Strategies Advisory Board

 

In this book, leading search optimization expert Rebecca Lieb brings together more than 50 absolutely crucial facts and insights decision-makers must know to drive more web traffic through better search engine placement. The Truth About Search Engine Optimization doesn't deliver abstract theory: it delivers quick, bite-size, just-the-facts information and plain-English explanations that executives, decision-makers, and even small business owners can actually use, no matter what kind of sites you're running, or what your goals are.

 

You will learn how to set realistic goals for search optimization... attract qualified traffic, not just "any" site visitors... incorporate search engine optimization into both new sites and redesigns... write for users... implement search-friendly content management... avoid problems with rich content technologies such as Flash and AJAX... create metatags that actually work... use public relations, blogging, and other techniques to drive traffic... budget and manage search optimization projects... and much more. 

 

This book reveals 51 PROVEN SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES and bite-size, easy-to-use advice that gets results including

 

• The truth about page rankings
• The truth about best SEO practices and SEO no-no’s
• The truth about link love, keywords, and tags

 Introduction     vii

Foreword by Fredrick Marckini     ix

 

Part I: The Basics of Search

Truth 1: Getting noticed by spiders, robots, and crawlers     1

Truth 2: Learn to do the Google dance     5

Truth 3: It's not about traffic—it's about qualified traffic     9

Truth 4: Your reputation is on the line     13

Part II: The Truth About Being Site-Specific

Truth 5: SEO is an ongoing project, not set-it-and-forget-it     17

Truth 6: SEO is not an afterthought     21

Truth 7: SEO results aren't immediate or lasting     25

Truth 8: You don't have a homepage anymore     29

Truth 9: Think like a publisher, even if you're not     33

Truth 10: Site and page design count     37

Truth 11: Write for users and search engines will follow     41

Truth 12: Keywords are key     45

Truth 13: Use analytics and keyword research tools     49

Truth 14: Site stats share the bad news, too     53

Truth 15: Think twice about hot new technologies     57

Truth 16: Content management systems matter—a lot     67

Part III: Tag, You're It!

Truth 17: What's in a title? Everything…     65

Truth 18: The relative importance of meta tags     71

Truth 19: Tag images, audio, video, and other media     75

Part IV: The Truth About Links

Truth 20: Some links are more equal than others     79

Truth 21: Building links through online directories     83

Truth 22: Using SEO PR as a link strategy     87

Truth 23: The jury is out on paid links     91

Truth 24: Share and share alike: Reciprocal linking     95

Truth 25: Ads are links, too     99

Truth 26: Build your site in a good neighborhood     103

Truth 27: Blogs are a terrific link strategy     107

Truth 28: Putting the kibosh on link love with nofollow links     111

Part V: You Call That a Search Engine?

Truth 29: Search is going vertical     115

Truth 30: Everyone is local somewhere     119

Truth 31: Get listed to get vertical     125

Truth 32: Optimize off-site searches     129

Truth 33: Universal search and personalized search     133

Part VI: Get a Social Life

Truth 34: Blogs are built for SEO     137

Truth 35: RSS feeds "feed" SEO efforts     141

Truth 36: Users will create content for you     145

Truth 37: Tag images, video, links, and other media     149

Part VII: Search Ranking

Truth 38: Being #1 ain't what it used to be     153

Truth 39: Don't live and die by PageRank     157

Truth 40: Wag the long tail     161

Part VIII: The Truth About SEO Management

Truth 41: In-house or outsource?     165

Truth 42: Hiring a great search professional     169

Truth 43: Great SEOs sweat the small stuff     173

Part IX: Don't Be Evil

Truth 44: Beware blackhat SEO     177

Truth 45: Search engines frown on keyword stuffing and spam     181

Truth 46: Don't cultivate link farms     185

Truth 47: It's very difficult to get unbanned     189

Truth 48: Moving to a new domain is stressful     193

Part X: Going Beyond

Truth 49: Global SEO     197

Truth 50: Mobile SEO is more important than ever     201

Truth 51: Sometimes you don't want to be found     205

About the Author     208

 

Note: Appendix A is available for free and located online at www.informit.com/title/9780789738318 within the Downloads tab.

 

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rebecca Lieb is a digital content and SEO consultant, as well as a writer, author, and editor. For almost eight years, she was Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of the ClickZ Network, the largest source of interactive marketing and advertising news, opinion, commentary, and resources in the world, online or off. She has held executive marketing and communications positions at strategic e-services consultancies, and worked in the same capacity for global entertainment and media companies, including Universal Television & Networks Group (formerly USA Networks International) and Bertelsmann’s German network, RTL Television. As a journalist, Rebecca has written on media for numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and spent five years as Variety’s Berlin-based German/Eastern European bureau chief. Until recently, she was a member of the graduate faculty at New York University’s Center for Publishing, where she also served on the Electronic Publishing Advisory Group. She frequently speaks on interactive marketing, advertising, and search worldwide.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art and the science of getting a website to appear prominently in organic search engine results when a search submits a query relevant to that website.

In other words, it’s about standing out from the crowd. It’s being front-and-center when a searcher raises his proverbial hand and says: “Hey! Over here! I’ve got a question and need an answer. Who’s available to help?”

Often, that question relates to “Where can I buy...?” or “Who can I do business with?” A well-optimized website, therefore, is something akin to the Holy Grail of marketing. It provides the right message to the right person at the right time.

And who’s the person in question? Well, everyone. Very close to literally everyone, given that the overwhelmingly majority of people in developed countries are online—and searching. Search long ago became the second-largest online activity (after email). Search has evolved from merely providing answers to stated problems and queries. Today, it’s the way most people navigate the Web. The major search engines are so good and so fast, search has largely replaced even the necessity of bookmarking favorite online destinations. In recent years, we’ve even seen the search bar come close to taking the place of the navigation bar in most major web browsers.

Even the most casual searcher has noticed that search is changing. It’s becoming deeper, more specific, more personalized, and more customized. Now, searchers can search for (and site owners can optimize for) shopping, blogs, video, images, local resources, books, or audio files. There’s almost nothing on the Web that can’t be found by, or optimized for, search engines, from the Big Three (Google, Yahoo!, and MSN) to a clutch of highly specialized search engines.

If marketers didn’t think being found on search engines was critical to their business strategy, the Big Three would hardly be so big. A company like 10-year-old Google rocketed from obscurity to becoming a multibillion market cap company because marketers are confident that investing in search engine advertising is a wise move. That’s why paid search advertising accounted for 41 percent of the $17 billion spent on interactive advertising in 2007. Search is the fastest-growing marketing segment of the Internet, which, in turn, is the fastest-growing channel in the history of media.

The purpose of this book is to introduce you to the basic precepts, principles, strategies, and tactics inherent in search engine optimization. It’s about how to make your website “findable” by the right person at the right time.

It’s not a book for geeks. It will not teach you how to write code, or get you up to your elbows in programming. But whether you’re a small webmaster or a chief marketing officer overseeing a search optimization initiative, you will learn tactics, strategies, and best practices for wrapping your arms around this whole search thing.

If you’ve got a business with a web presence, not being findable on the major search engines is akin to not being listed in the phonebook—only worse, perhaps.

How can you possibly afford to pass up the opportunity to be there when potential customers or clients come looking for you? At the same time, how can you ensure that they find you for the right queries? Your “steel drums” may be musical instruments, or they may be industrial parts. A properly executed SEO strategy helps you be conspicuously “there” for contextually relevant search queries. The goal, after all, isn’t just to attract traffic to a website, but qualified traffic. Both the site owner and the searcher alike benefit from solid SEO.

Finally, a note. Although this book deals with optimizing for all search engines great and small (including some you’ve likely never heard of), you’ll find a preponderance of references to Google, and with good reason. By May 2008, a mind-boggling 71.5 percent of all searches in the United States were conducted on Google (source: Compete). Yahoo! lags far, far behind with 13.3 percent, and the remaining 15 percent or so is splintered between MSN, Ask.com, AOL, and others. If the tactics and practices in this book favor Google as the benchmark of all things search, that’s because it is. Google is bigger than the proverbial 500-pound gorilla. In search, it’s more like Godzilla. I’ve, therefore, made an effort not to favor Google in this book, but to present today’s market realities that will doubtless hold true far into the foreseeable future—and beyond.

Rebecca Lieb
New York City
October 2008

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: FT Press; 1 edition (February 23, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789738317
• ISBN-13: 978-0789738318
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #588,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rebecca Lieb is an analyst at the Altimeter Group where she covers digital advertising and marketing.

A consultant, author, and sought-after speaker, Rebecca is the former VP of Econsultancy's US operations. She was VP and editor-in-chief of The ClickZ Network for over seven years. For a portion of that time, Rebecca also ran SearchEngineWatch.com.

Earlier, Rebecca held executive marketing and communications positions at strategic e-services consultancies, including Siegel+Gale, and has worked in the same capacity for global entertainment and media companies including Universal Television & Networks Group and Bertelsmann's RTL Television. As a journalist, she's written on media for numerous publications, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. She spent five years as Variety's Berlin-based German/Eastern European bureau chief. Until recently, Rebecca taught at New York University's Center for Publishing, where she also served on the Electronic Publishing Advisory Group.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, but don't be decieved by the "2009", June 1, 2009

By 

JustADesigner - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Truth About Search Engine Optimization (Paperback)

As most people searching for SEO books, I was looking for the most up-to-date book possible. Even though this book claims to be 1st printed Feb 2009 the text references outdated "current events." Refers a few times to the "new" Indiana Jones movie and news about George W. Bush. Also refers to "Macromedia" Flash, but I think that was just a lack of software knowledge.
Don't get me wrong I learned a lot... A LOT!, but I question if some of this content is already outdated. Algorithms are always changing.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best $13 I have Spent in Marcom, April 3, 2009

By 

Rick Short (Whitesboro, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Truth About Search Engine Optimization (Paperback)

"The Truth About Search Engine Optimization" is both technically accurate and implementable - the perfect storm for any Marketing Communications professional.

I've studied SEM extensively, and have been active in it for a few years. This book has taught me many things, and affirmed others. In fact, I plan to purchase several more copies and use it as a "text" in a class I am designing for my bloggers (product managers and marketers). The bite-sized and actionable chapters make total sense, are easily digestible, and are even inspirational - especially for those in my company who need to achieve more on the net but who don't care to invest tons of time learning all these tools on their own.

I am confident that this book will be a major influence in the transformation that is about to occur in my SEM program.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easily understood concepts and great techniques shared throughout the book, June 3, 2009

By 

H. MOORE (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Truth About Search Engine Optimization (Paperback)

This book was a required textbook for a web/e-commerce class that I was taking. I am active in SEO in my current job as well and the text married both the concepts I was learning in class to the work that I was performing on my work website. Easily understood concepts and great techniques shared throughout the book.