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Book Review of The Truth about Search Engine Optimization by Rebecca Leib (@lieblink)

The term Search Engine Optimization or SEO is all but established in our lexicon yet understanding what it really means is about as clear as mud. Knowing what to do about META tags, site maps, CMS design, Local/Global Search, Link Building, Algorithms, Conversion Optimization, Title Tags, Keyword Research, Link Farms, Black Hat SEO or Spiders is a full time profession for a lot of people.

Its not a question of when but how:

Depending on who you talk to about SEO Consulting you will get an answer for each color of the spectrum and day of the year. On one hand you might be talking with your long time marketing agency who knows as much about the search engines as Brittney Spears knows about a good haircut. These conversations may be expensive and lead to minimal if not zero results. On another hand you may be talking with a Black Hat SEO firm who give you guarantees and ideally short time frames for results. These conversations might be in your budget but could end up getting your domain name banned from the search engines forever.

What are you supposed to do? Its not like you have a company to run...

Educate yourself:

My first suggestion is always to educate yourself so that you can tell when someone either does not know what they are talking about, or they are going to hurt more than help. The former saves time and money while the latter will save you your sanity. A great reference for this is the book The Truth About Search Engine Optimization by Rebecca Leib. Leib is a longtime contributor to the online marketing industry with a nice stint as Editor in Chief of ClickZ.

In The Truth About Search Engine Optimization Rebecca is going after the executive level audience and not the code geek. She wants you to understand, at a high level, what SEO is so that when you meet with an SEO Consultant you can tell if they know what they are talking about or if they are going to sink you domain to the 7th circle of hell. The book is a relatively fast read broken down into ten parts covering what she has identified to be 51 Truths about SEO:

Table of Contents for The Truth About Search Engine Optimization by Rebecca Leib:

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

Where to focus:

I recommend that you pay close attention to these parts in particular:
Part II: The Truth About Being Site-Specific - This part focuses on the foundation - your website and how to set it up.
Part IV: The Truth About Links - Linking is the most fundamental technology that makes the web the web, yet most people are completely lost or very confused about how to make them work for you.
Part VI: Get a Social Life - Your business is not static why is your website? Conversations are where sales happen. This part dives into the cauldron known as Social Media.
Part IX: Don't Be Evil - Its in Google's by-laws and it should be in yours too. Here is where you will learn about Black Hat SEO: how it will be pitched to you and how to ensure you avoid it.

In summary:

By reading this book you will clear many misconceptions about Search Engine Optimization and be able to weed out the ignorant and shady SEO consultants. More importantly you will be able to identify the good ones and be much more effective in communicating with them resulting in better results.

Buy The Truth About Search Engine Optimization at your local bookstore or here at Amazon.com.

Conversation:

Please let me know what you thought of The Truth About Search Engine Optimization, this review, or how I can help you get the SEO results you are looking for. You can reach me, Roger Williams, by leaving a comment here or by calling me at 602-748-4385

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