book

SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible

Name: SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible
Author: Jerri L. Ledford
ISBN: 9780470175002

by Jerri L. Ledford

December 2007

Intermediate to advanced

407 pages

11h 1m

English

Wiley

Read now

Unlock full access

Copyright
About the Author
About the Technical Editor
Credits
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Who Should Read This BookHow This Book Is OrganizedConventions and featuresWhere to Go from Here
I. Understanding SEO
1. Search Engine Basics
1.1. What Is a Search Engine?1.2. Anatomy of a Search Engine1.2.1. Query interface1.2.2. Crawlers, spiders, and robots1.2.3. Databases1.2.4. Search algorithms1.2.5. Retrieval and ranking1.3. Characteristics of Search1.4. Classifications of Search Engines1.4.1. Primary search engines1.4.1.1. Overview of Google1.4.1.2. Overview of Yahoo!1.4.1.3. Overview of MSN1.4.2. Secondary search engines1.4.3. Targeted search engines1.5. Putting Search Engines to Work for You1.6. Manipulating Search Engines
2. Creating an SEO Plan
2.1. Understanding Why You Need SEO2.2. Setting SEO Goals2.3. Creating Your SEO Plan2.3.1. Prioritizing pages2.3.2. Site assessment2.3.3. Finishing the plan2.3.4. Follow-up2.4. Understanding Organic SEO2.5. Achieving Organic SEO2.5.1. Web-site content2.5.2. Google Analytics2.5.3. Internal and external links2.5.4. User experience2.5.5. Site interactivity
II. SEO Strategies

3. Building Your Site for SEO
3.1. Before You Build Your Site3.1.1. Know your target3.1.2. Page elements3.1.2.1. Text3.1.2.2. Tags3.1.2.3. Links3.1.2.4. Popularity3.1.2.5. Other criteria to consider3.2. Understanding Web-Site Optimization3.2.1. Does hosting matter?3.2.2. Domain-naming tips3.2.3. Understanding usability3.2.3.1. Navigation knowledge3.2.3.2. Usability considerations3.3. Components of an SEO-Friendly Page3.3.1. Understanding entry and exit pages3.3.2. Using powerful titles3.3.3. Creating great content3.3.4. Maximizing graphics3.4. Problem Pages and Work-Arounds3.4.1. Painful portals3.4.2. Fussy frames3.4.3. Cranky cookies3.5. Programming Languages and SEO3.5.1. JavaScript3.5.2. Flash3.5.3. Dynamic ASP3.5.4. PHP3.6. Other Design Concerns3.6.1. Domain cloaking3.6.2. Duplicate content3.6.3. Hidden pages3.7. After Your Site Is Built3.7.1. Beware of content thieves3.7.2. Dealing with updates and site changes
4. Keywords and Your Web Site
4.1. The Importance of Keywords4.2. Understanding Heuristics4.3. Using Anchor Text4.4. Picking the Right Keywords4.5. What's the Right Keyword Density?4.6. Taking Advantage of Organic Keywords4.7. Avoid Keyword Stuffing4.8. More About Keyword Optimization
5. Pay-per-Click and SEO
5.1. How Pay-per-Click Works5.1.1. Determining visitor value5.1.2. Putting pay-per-click to work5.2. Pay-per-Click Categories5.2.1. Keyword pay-per-click programs5.2.2. Product pay-per-click programs5.2.3. Service pay-per-click programs5.3. Understanding How PPC Affects SEO5.4. Keyword Competitive Research5.4.1. Keyword suggestion tools5.5. Choosing Effective Keywords5.5.1. Creating your first keyword list5.5.2. Forbidden search terms and poison words5.5.3. Forecasting search volumes5.5.4. Finalizing your keyword list5.6. Writing Ad Descriptions5.7. Monitoring and Analyzing Results
6. Maximizing Pay-per-Click Strategies
6.1. Understanding Keyword Placement6.2. Alt and Other Tags and Attributes6.2.1. Title tags6.2.2. Meta description tags6.2.3. Anchor text6.2.4. Header tag content6.2.4.1. Losing Sleep Over Poor Sleep Habits?6.2.5. Body text6.2.6. Alt tags6.2.6.1. Alt tags in graphic links6.3. URLS and File Names
7. Increasing Keyword Success
7.1. Writing Keyword Advertisement Text7.2. Create Great Landing Pages7.3. Understanding and Using A/B Testing7.4. Avoiding Keyword Stuffing
8. Understanding and Using Behavioral Targeting
8.1. What Is Behavioral Targeting?8.2. Taking Advantage of Behavioral Targeting8.3. Additional Behavioral Targeting Tips
9. Managing Keyword and PPC Campaigns
9.1. Keyword Budgeting9.2. Understanding Bid Management9.2.1. Manual bid management9.2.2. Automated bid management9.3. Tracking Keywords and Conversions9.4. Reducing Pay-per-Click Costs9.4.1. Managing PPC campaigns9.4.2. Negative keywords9.4.3. Dayparting9.5. Improving Click-Through Rates9.6. The ROI of PPC
10. Keyword Tools and Services
10.1. Google AdWords10.1.1. Campaign management10.1.2. Reports10.1.3. Analytics10.1.4. My account10.1.5. Print ads10.2. Yahoo! Search Marketing10.2.1. Dashboard10.2.2. Campaigns10.2.3. Reports10.2.4. Administration10.3. Microsoft adCenter10.3.1. Campaign10.3.2. Accounts & Billing10.3.3. Research10.3.4. Reports
11. Tagging Your Web Site
11.1. What's So Important About Site Tagging?11.2. How Does Site Tagging Work?11.3. Additional HTML Tags11.3.1. Nofollow11.3.2. Strong and emphasis11.3.3. Noframes11.3.4. Table summary tag11.3.5. Acronym and abbreviation tags11.3.6. Virtual includes11.4. Using Redirect Pages
12. The Content Piece of the Puzzle
12.1. How Does Web-Site Content Affect SEO?12.2. Elements of Competitive Content12.3. To Use or Not? Duplicate Content12.4. Stay Away from Search Engine Spam12.4.1. Doorway pages12.4.2. Hidden and tiny text12.4.3. SEO oversubmission12.4.4. Page jacking12.4.5. Bait and switch12.4.6. Cloaking12.4.7. Hidden links12.5. Considerations for Multi-Lingual Sites12.6. Content Management Systems12.6.1. When should you use CMS?12.6.2. Choosing the right CMS12.6.3. How CMS affects SEO12.7. Understand and Use Viral Content
13. Understanding the Role of Links and Linking
13.1. How Links Affect SEO13.2. How Links and Linking Work13.2.1. Snagging inbound links13.2.2. Creating outbound links13.2.3. Taking advantage of cross-linking13.2.4. The skinny on link farms13.3. The Basics of Link Building13.4. Using Internal Links13.5. Judging the Effectiveness of Your Links
III. Optimizing Search Strategies
14. Adding Your Site to Directories
14.1. What Are Directories?14.1.1. Submitting to directories14.1.2. Major online directories14.1.3. Paid vs. free directories14.2. Geo-Targeting SEO Strategies14.3. Using Submission Tools
15. Pay-for-Inclusion Services
15.1. When to Use Pay-for-Inclusion Services15.2. Understanding the Business Model15.3. Managing Paid Services15.4. Hiring the Right Professionals15.5. Contract Considerations15.6. When the Relationship Isn't Working
16. Robots, Spiders, and Crawlers
16.1. What Are Robots, Spiders, and Crawlers?16.2. What's the Robot Exclusion Standard?16.3. Robots Meta Tag16.4. Inclusion with XML Site Mapping16.4.1. Creating your own XML site map16.4.2. Submitting your site map
17. The Truth About SEO Spam
17.1. What Constitutes SEO Spam?17.2. Why Is SEO Spam a Bad Idea?17.3. Avoiding SEO Spam
18. Adding Social-Media Optimization
18.1. What Is Social-Media Optimization?18.1.1. What's different about social-media optimization?18.2. The Value of Social Media18.3. Social-Media Strategies18.4. Measuring Social-Media Optimization
19. Automated Optimization
19.1. Should You Automate?19.2. Automation Tools
IV. Maintaining SEO
20. SEO Beyond the Launch
20.1. It's Not Over20.2. Using Content Management Systems20.3. SEO Problems and Solutions20.3.1. You've been banned!20.3.2. Content scraping20.3.3. Click fraud
21. Analyzing Success
21.1. Analyzing SEO Successes21.1.1. Managing SEO expectations21.1.1.1. SEO timeline21.1.1.2. Being hands-on21.1.2. Find yourself21.1.3. Analyzing web stats21.1.3.1. Baseline statistics21.1.3.2. Referring web sites21.1.3.3. Referring keywords (paid and organic)21.1.3.4. Additional statistics21.2. Competitive Analysis21.3. Conversion Analysis21.4. Analyzing Server Logs
V. Appendices
A. Optimization for Major Search Engines
A.1. Optimization for GoogleA.1.1. Understanding Google PageRankA.2. Optimization for MSNA.3. Optimization for Yahoo!A.3.1. The Yahoo! Search Crawler
B. Industry Interviews
B.1. Eric Bloomfield, Vice President of Client Service & Technology, SendTrafficB.2. Jessica Bowman, Director of SEO, Business.comB.3. Brian Combs, Founder and VP of Services, Apogee SearchB.4. Rhea Drysdale, Internet Marketing Manager, MPS GroupB.5. Paul Dyer, Senior Account Executive, MarketwireB.6. Miki Dzugan, President, Rapport Online Inc.B.7. Rand Fishkin, CEO and Co-Founder, SEOmozB.8. Duane Forrester, Founding Co-Chair for the In-House Committee with SEMPOB.9. Stephen Harris, Consultant, SPH AssociatesB.10. Ryan Hoppe, Director of Product Marketing, Fast SearchB.11. Diane Kuehn, President, VisionPoint MarketingB.12. Matt Naeger, VP and General Counsel, IMPAQTB.13. Simon Otter, Technical Manager, thebigwordB.14. Sarah Skerik, VP Distribution Services, PR NewswireB.15. Andrew Wetzler, President, MoreVisibilityB.16. Jill Whalen, Founder and CEO, High Rankings
C. SEO Software, Tools, and Resources
C.1. Major Search Engines and DirectoriesC.2. Secondary Search EnginesC.3. Meta Search EnginesC.4. Keyword ToolsC.5. Content ResourcesC.6. RSS Feeds and ApplicationsC.7. Search Engine Marketing Resources and ArticlesC.8. Registration Services and ProgramsC.9. Link Resources and SoftwareC.10. Pay-per-ClickC.11. Social-Media Tools
D. Worksheets
D.1. SEO ChecklistD.1.1. Current StateD.1.2. Keyword ResearchD.1.3. Web-Site DesignD.1.4. Write Clean CodeD.1.5. Make Use of Tags and AttributesD.1.6. SEO-Approved ContentD.1.7. Manual SubmissionsD.1.8. Linking StrategiesD.1.9. ConversionsD.2. Keyword Checklist
Glossary

Overview

This in-depth Bible delivers the holy grail of online marketing: how to influence search engine results to drive online shoppers to specific Web sites; the process is called search engine optimization (SEO) and it is a hot topic
One-stop resource offers readers what they need to plan and implement a successful SEO program, including useful tips on finding the shortest routes to success, strategy suggestions, and sidebars with more information and additional resources
Features interviews with executives from top search companies, plus appendices on creating successful listings with Google, MSN, Yahoo!, and others
Topics include creating an SEO plan; managing keywords; maximizing pay-per-click strategies; understanding the role of links and linking; robots, spiders, and crawlers; maintaining SEO; analyzing success rates; and much more

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.

Julian F.

Head of Cybersecurity

I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.

Addison B.

Field Engineer

I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.

Amir M.

Data Platform Tech Lead

I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.

Mark W.

Embedded Software Engineer

Teach Yourself VISUALLY Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780470175002Purchase book

Cloud Computing

Data Engineering

Data Science

AI & ML

Programming Languages

Software Architecture

IT/Ops

Security

Design

Business

Soft Skills