- Authors:
- Danny Dover,
- Erik Dafforn
Tips, tricks, and little-known methods used by professional SEO consultants to rank in some of the most competitive search phrases Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of creating, formatting and promoting web pages in a manner that ensures that they are ranked highly for chosen keyword phrases after a user performs a Web search. This unique book taps the relatively unknown market of advanced SEO knowledge, and reveals secrets used by only the best SEO consultants. You'll take your Internet marketing skills to the next level as you gain a thorough understanding of standard SEO techniques such as on-page optimization, off-page optimization, and link building. Packed with real-world examples, this essential guide demonstrates how real SEO consultants work with Fortune 500 companies to get the results they desire. Explains the basics of search engine optimization (SEO) and how it enables a specific site to rank high in a Web search based on particular keyword phrases Shares little-known tricks and tips of SEO consultants that work with Fortune 500 companies Demonstrates how to perform a professional SEO Web site audit Reveals the techniques that current SEO leaders use to remain high in rankings Divulges secrets for spying on your competitors' ranking techniques As the only book focused on the subject of SEO consulting, this must-have resource unveils secret tricks of the trade. From the Author: How to Get Your First Major SEO Client Author Danny Dover I have worked with many of the webs most popular websites as an SEO consultant, and each of them shared one infuriating trait. While their SEO problems were not that difficult, the process of getting them to hire me was. Before I can explain how I overcame this barrier, let me set the context. Large clients generally suffer from many or all of the same difficulties: The potential major clients website scaled quickly but without SEO in mind. This makes going back and working with a legacy Content Management System (CMS) very difficult. The amount of inbound links is no longer a problem, but optimally passing the value of those links throughout the site is a problem. The production of content is no longer a problem, but that same content being duplicated across multiple URLs is massively devaluing that same contents value. Big organizations generally have very big websites. While the raw materials for a search engine optimized site are there, the information architecture is not. So how do you use this knowledge to get your first major SEO client? The answer is to create solutions to these problems before the potential client even identifies they exist and then sell your services to them in the correct way. Once you have done that, offer your solutions at a cheaper than market price (for your first major client only!) and make it clear you have the follow through necessary to guide these changes through their companies structure. That sounds good but how do I establish myself as a trusted source? That is exactly the correct question! Larger companies usually need hard data in order to make these decisions. This means you will need appropriate case studies. Case studies pay dividends so always be sure to create them after working with noteworthy clients. (I even recommend doing this in exchange for a lower price, if necessary.) Since in this scenario, you havent already had a major client in the past, the best case study isnt really a case study at all. Use the potential clients site as an in progress case study and cite actual problems that exist on their site today and show them the results your previous (although smaller) clients got in the past. Back this up with inside information on how others have seen similar results at other major websites. The most cost effective way to get that evidence is to take other SEOs who already worked with major clients out to lunch or coffee in exchange for examples and anecdotes they experienced with past clients. This will both help you become more knowledge and improve your ability to sell yourself. This combination of pre-identifying the potential major clients problems, reassuring them that you have the stamina to push the changes through their company structure, demonstrating the type of results they will likely receive from working with you and basing all of that on case studies and actual examples make up the system you need to get your first big SEO client. While this should get you the results you need, more details are available in this book, Search Engine Optimization Secrets, in case you need more detailed instructions. This system has worked for me and it has worked for others. Now it is your turn.
Index Terms
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Secrets
Reviews
Radu State
Having one's Web site ranked among the first entries by search engines such as Google or Yahoo! can make the essential difference between success and failure in online advertising and commerce. This book aims to provide the necessary knowledge for designing visible and well-ranked Web sites. Although the specific details used by Google and other search engines are secret (since these are driving the revenue and business model of search engines), some of the decisional components have been revealed in a landmark publication by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Based on Google's famous PageRank algorithm, which takes into account the number of links pointing to a Web site as well as some good practice rules for designing Web sites, the authors address the main steps needed to become a search engine optimization (SEO) consultant. In the first chapters, the main focus is on analyzing and relearning the Web. The reader is guided on how to select the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) tags, content, and structure to derive a good structure for a given Web site. Basic knowledge of HTML is required to follow the book, but even novice readers can easily read and understand the topics. In the follow-up chapter, the authors introduce some practical and handy tools for assessing the visibility of a Web site. These tools range from online systems, such as Google Webmaster Central, to simple browser plugins, such as mozBar. The tools are well described; however, the reader must be aware that some of the functionalities are limited to the paid versions of these tools. Unfortunately, this detail is missing from the book, which is a little bit misleading. Otherwise, the book contains a large number of technical subtleties on analyzing keywords associated with a Web page, navigating the Web in a user-agent field-independent manner, and identifying common problems in SEO underperformance. A significant part of the book is dedicated to showing what a hypothetical SEO consulting report should look like. Although this specific case is interesting reading material for a future consultant, the associated report would have worked much better as a Web-accessible resource, since few readers will go through the 130 pages. In the final part of the book, the authors provide a broad overview of the SEO landscape. This covers both the main commercial actors and SEO-related events and conferences. I have mixed feelings about this book. Some of its chapters are worth reading (for instance, chapters 1, 3, 5, and 6) while others are either too shallow (chapters 13 and 14) or just simple placeholders (chapters 8 and 9). Readers interested in SEO can use the book as a good introduction to the field as long as they are prepared to skim through a lot of additional anecdotal and less technical content. Online Computing Reviews Service
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