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Search Engine Optimization All-in-One For Dummies
If you have a business, you want your Web site to show up quickly when people search for what you’re selling. Search Engine Optimization All-in-One For Dummies has the whole story on how to build a site that works, position and promote it, track and understand your search results, and use keywords effectively. And it includes a $25 credit on Google AdWords, to get you off to a good start! Ten handy minibooks cover how search engines work, keyword strategy, competitive positioning, SEO Web design, content creation, linking, optimizing the foundations, analyzing results, international SEO, and search marketing. You’ll even learn some geeky things like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, or how to match metatags and keywords to page content. With all this information and a Google AdWords gift card worth $25, Search Engine Optimization All-in-One For Dummies has what you need to make your site a hit with search engines.
768 pages, Paperback
First published November 24, 2008
44 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
About the author
Bruce Clay
6Ìýbooks30ÌýfollowersBruce has been a recognized leader in the search marketing arena since 1996 when, after a long career as a technical executive with leading Silicon Valley companies, he launched one of the first consulting firms devoted to search engine optimization (SEO). His pioneering efforts continue to lead the search industry by providing award-winning SEO training and certification courses, the SEO Code of Ethics and the full-featured SEOToolSet. He is a popular speaker at major industry conferences including Search Engine Strategies (SES) and Search Marketing Expo (SMX).
Bruce co-authored the all-in-one desk reference guide for SEO, Search Engine Optimization All-in-One for Dummies. Widely recognized as a search marketing expert, he has been quoted in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, PC Week, Wired Magazine, Smart Money, as well as in several books. Bruce is also featured in many video interviews conducted by industry notables too numerable to mention.
Bruce co-authored the all-in-one desk reference guide for SEO, Search Engine Optimization All-in-One for Dummies. Widely recognized as a search marketing expert, he has been quoted in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, PC Week, Wired Magazine, Smart Money, as well as in several books. Bruce is also featured in many video interviews conducted by industry notables too numerable to mention.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 5, 2024
Covers a wide variety of SEO topics and gives many tips, but it's not as informative as I expected, given the length of the book and that the authors are respected in the SEO space.
Notes
Employing Keyword Research Techniques and Tools
Keyword research tools
�
�
�
�
�
�
Exploiting Pay Per Click Lessons Learned
Studies show that when a site has an ad and organic result on page 1, people think site is authoritative, so they click organic listing far more than if no ad appeared.
Assigning Keywords to Pages
Silo your site: organize content into distinct subjects, each with its own landing page and supporting pages.
Adding and Maintaining Keywords
Keyword frequency: number of times keyword is used on a page
Keyword distribution: how evenly keyword appears throughout page
Search engines put more weight on first 200 words on page, including navigation and headings, but use keywords naturally throughout page.
Applying Collected Data
You generally need at least 1 landing page with at least 5 supporting pages/posts for each main keyword.
The Basics of SEO Web Design
and clean up code.
Search engines can parse up to 500 concatenated words, but hyphens can aid parsing for search engines and users.
Building an SEO-Friendly Site
Aim for at least 450 words per page that you want to rank. In 2020, average Google 1st page result had 1,447 words.
Making Your Page Search Engine Compatible
Meta keywords aren't used by Google, but are by smaller search engines, including Bing and Yahoo, but they're not a major ranking factor.
If keyword is important enough to be included in your title and meta description, include in meta keywords.
Order keywords in meta keywords from longest to shortest (4-word phrases, 3-word phrases, 2-word phrases).
Google says rich snippet markup doesn't directly boost rank, but additional context provided by rich snippets may.
Perfecting Navigation and Linking Techniques
URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console lets you see if images, JavaScript, etc. are obstacles to spiders.
Establishing Content Depth and Page Length
Aim for at least 300 words on product pages, with at least some being original (not manufacturer-provided descriptions).
Aim for at least 5 pages supporting each theme landing page, but you may need more if competitors have more.
Adding Keyword-Specific Content
Use synonyms for keywords. Find them with thesaurus and by searching Google for keyword and seeing which other words Google bolds in SERPs.
analyzes page content.
Dealing with Duplicate Content
Make content of press releases unique. Include a brief "About" section that doesn’t exactly match company info on site. In press release, include only 1 link from brand name to homepage.
Only a registered federal copyright has enough teeth to help fight violations in court, in US or internationally.
Crediting Your Content
What to do when content is stolen
1. Ask site to take down
2. File copyright infringement or DMCA report with search engines
3. Report to site's ISP
4. File police report
5. Send cease-and-desist order
6. File lawsuit
Using SEO to Build Your Brand
Press release distribution services
� eReleases
� PR Web
� EIN Presswire
� Business Wire
Employing Linking Strategies
Try to keep site's directory structure to 1-2 levels deep, unless site is large. The closer a page is to root, the more important it looks to search engines.
Outbound links show search engines you recognize experts in your industry, and helps search engines define your site by association. They also make you appear more trustworthy to users.
Use rel="nofollow" or  rel="sponsored" for paid links.
Obtaining Links
Add rel="nofollow" to any links in a guest post.
You may buy links for traffic or advertising, but not ranking.
Vetting Inbound Links
shows most complete, historic view of inbound links of any tool.
Google usually rates reciprocal links as having no value.
Removing unwanted inbound links
1. Link pruning (request that site remove its spammy link to you)
2. Link disavowal with search engines
3. Ask search engine to reevaluate your site and lift any penalties (if needed)
Prevent advertisement links from being followed by crawlers with robots.txt, rel="nofollow", or rel="sponsored".
Server Issues: Why Your Server Matters
tool reports obstacles to spiders.
SEO-friendly 404 Error page
� Design page match site
� Tell that page couldn't be found; consider being humorous
� Offer links to other pages
� Include link to homepage
� Include link to sitemap
� Include search box
� Include
� Don’t redirect 404 page to other pages
Domain Names: What Your URL Says about You
.biz TLD has a reputation for being used by spammers and scammers.
.org TLD was originally for organizations such as nonprofits, but can now be used by anyone.
IP funnel: funnel many domains to a single canonical site so search engines don’t view multiple sites as deceptive. You don’t have to host all domains and set up redirects. You only have to host 2 domains (canonical site and one other domain), then "funnel" other domains to canonical site domain.
Search engines consider subdomains to be entirely separate from main site and other subdomains.
Using Redirects for SEO
Search engines claim to be able to interpret 302 redirects correctly, but it's best to avoid them because they can cause search engines to index duplicate content.
Watching Your Backend: Content Management System Troubles
On product pages, in addition to manufacturer's required product description, include additional text (how-to instructions, historical info, hands-on perspective) and user reviews.
Employing Site Analytics
Analytics software
� Google Analytics (best for most sites)
� Adobe Analytics (very good; expensive)
� StatCounter
� Webtrends
Log-file analysis tools
� WebLog Expert
� Sawmill
� AWStats (free)
Notes
Employing Keyword Research Techniques and Tools
Keyword research tools
�
�
�
�
�
�
Exploiting Pay Per Click Lessons Learned
Studies show that when a site has an ad and organic result on page 1, people think site is authoritative, so they click organic listing far more than if no ad appeared.
Assigning Keywords to Pages
Silo your site: organize content into distinct subjects, each with its own landing page and supporting pages.
Adding and Maintaining Keywords
Keyword frequency: number of times keyword is used on a page
Keyword distribution: how evenly keyword appears throughout page
Search engines put more weight on first 200 words on page, including navigation and headings, but use keywords naturally throughout page.
Applying Collected Data
You generally need at least 1 landing page with at least 5 supporting pages/posts for each main keyword.
The Basics of SEO Web Design
and clean up code.
Search engines can parse up to 500 concatenated words, but hyphens can aid parsing for search engines and users.
Building an SEO-Friendly Site
Aim for at least 450 words per page that you want to rank. In 2020, average Google 1st page result had 1,447 words.
Making Your Page Search Engine Compatible
Meta keywords aren't used by Google, but are by smaller search engines, including Bing and Yahoo, but they're not a major ranking factor.
If keyword is important enough to be included in your title and meta description, include in meta keywords.
Order keywords in meta keywords from longest to shortest (4-word phrases, 3-word phrases, 2-word phrases).
Google says rich snippet markup doesn't directly boost rank, but additional context provided by rich snippets may.
Perfecting Navigation and Linking Techniques
URL Inspection Tool in Google Search Console lets you see if images, JavaScript, etc. are obstacles to spiders.
Establishing Content Depth and Page Length
Aim for at least 300 words on product pages, with at least some being original (not manufacturer-provided descriptions).
Aim for at least 5 pages supporting each theme landing page, but you may need more if competitors have more.
Adding Keyword-Specific Content
Use synonyms for keywords. Find them with thesaurus and by searching Google for keyword and seeing which other words Google bolds in SERPs.
analyzes page content.
Dealing with Duplicate Content
Make content of press releases unique. Include a brief "About" section that doesn’t exactly match company info on site. In press release, include only 1 link from brand name to homepage.
Only a registered federal copyright has enough teeth to help fight violations in court, in US or internationally.
Crediting Your Content
What to do when content is stolen
1. Ask site to take down
2. File copyright infringement or DMCA report with search engines
3. Report to site's ISP
4. File police report
5. Send cease-and-desist order
6. File lawsuit
Using SEO to Build Your Brand
Press release distribution services
� eReleases
� PR Web
� EIN Presswire
� Business Wire
Employing Linking Strategies
Try to keep site's directory structure to 1-2 levels deep, unless site is large. The closer a page is to root, the more important it looks to search engines.
Outbound links show search engines you recognize experts in your industry, and helps search engines define your site by association. They also make you appear more trustworthy to users.
Use rel="nofollow" or  rel="sponsored" for paid links.
Obtaining Links
Add rel="nofollow" to any links in a guest post.
You may buy links for traffic or advertising, but not ranking.
Vetting Inbound Links
shows most complete, historic view of inbound links of any tool.
Google usually rates reciprocal links as having no value.
Removing unwanted inbound links
1. Link pruning (request that site remove its spammy link to you)
2. Link disavowal with search engines
3. Ask search engine to reevaluate your site and lift any penalties (if needed)
Prevent advertisement links from being followed by crawlers with robots.txt, rel="nofollow", or rel="sponsored".
Server Issues: Why Your Server Matters
tool reports obstacles to spiders.
SEO-friendly 404 Error page
� Design page match site
� Tell that page couldn't be found; consider being humorous
� Offer links to other pages
� Include link to homepage
� Include link to sitemap
� Include search box
� Include
� Don’t redirect 404 page to other pages
Domain Names: What Your URL Says about You
.biz TLD has a reputation for being used by spammers and scammers.
.org TLD was originally for organizations such as nonprofits, but can now be used by anyone.
IP funnel: funnel many domains to a single canonical site so search engines don’t view multiple sites as deceptive. You don’t have to host all domains and set up redirects. You only have to host 2 domains (canonical site and one other domain), then "funnel" other domains to canonical site domain.
Search engines consider subdomains to be entirely separate from main site and other subdomains.
Using Redirects for SEO
Search engines claim to be able to interpret 302 redirects correctly, but it's best to avoid them because they can cause search engines to index duplicate content.
Watching Your Backend: Content Management System Troubles
On product pages, in addition to manufacturer's required product description, include additional text (how-to instructions, historical info, hands-on perspective) and user reviews.
Employing Site Analytics
Analytics software
� Google Analytics (best for most sites)
� Adobe Analytics (very good; expensive)
� StatCounter
� Webtrends
Log-file analysis tools
� WebLog Expert
� Sawmill
� AWStats (free)
March 6, 2019
This book helped me understand the basics of SEO. The book gives tons of information about how to do SEO correctly and what not to do. It also give you a lot of names of websites that you can go when you needed something. Great book for beginner of SEO.
October 4, 2014
There's plenty of useful, easy-to-follow info in this book, though its organisation leaves something to be desired. The ten books it's been compiled from seem to have been put together without a great deal of editing, so there's a fair bit of repetition and duplication of material. Confusingly, different sections of the book sometimes contradict each other (eg on the importance of meta tag keywords). This is perhaps because sections were originally written at different times, and SEO is constantly changing.
That apart, as a (very) amateur web designer I found this a highly readable book and easy to understand. While some of its tips are possibly already obsolete, there's a still a lot of sensible advice here.
That apart, as a (very) amateur web designer I found this a highly readable book and easy to understand. While some of its tips are possibly already obsolete, there's a still a lot of sensible advice here.
September 8, 2012
Helpful book for those of you diving into websites and blogging - it helps to clear the cobwebs but sometimes I still feel like it is a matter of volume - you can put the best labels you want in your tags and meta tags but at some point, your hits increase based on how much content, and quality content you are posting. Google's results also seems to change so frequently - one day I'll be top three for my niche search terms and other days I'll be on the second page... *sigh*
This book is a must read but you also must remember that SEO is just one of many tools to get your site out there and viewed.
This book is a must read but you also must remember that SEO is just one of many tools to get your site out there and viewed.
January 5, 2015
I would definitely recommend this book for beginners. The book is very slow paced, repeating concepts over and over. I found myself thinking about how much I had to wade through because I know basic SEO terminology and didn't need the hammering home. However, if I was brand new, I would be happy to have terms and concepts re-explained. My advice would be if you already have an SEO foundation maybe look for a book which is more concise. If you need to brush up on SEO I think you would find what you are looking for here.
June 13, 2011
a GREAT introduction to SEO basics. Also a good guide (a bit outdated now since SEO changes by day) but good solid resource for developing a good site for seo purposes. Bruce is also really great in person! He gave me this book and he's like the father of SEO, so I read it and it was highly insightful.
Read
July 30, 2012Oh my gosh, I thought I would never get through this book. Don't get me wrong - it's very helpful and gave me some information that I really needed. BUT it is a long, slow, and a bit overwhelming read for clueless (dummies) like me. Still glad I read it though - and took lots of notes. Thank you Bruce Clay!
Read
June 18, 2016It was a good book for a beginner though it got a little repetitive. I think it would work better as a resource than as a training manual. It gives basics but also goes into a fair amount of detail in places.
April 2, 2023
I sort of wish I wasn't the kind of person who has a favorite book on SEO, but I am, and I do, and this is it. It's comprehensive, accessible, and useful even if you already have a working knowledge of SEO.
March 31, 2013
just okay
July 14, 2013
The first book I read on SEO. Probably way outdated but was a great primer at the time.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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