The latest ‘SEO Book’ blog post is titled “The Benefits Of Thinking Like Google”. Peterd says, “Shadows are the color of the sky. It’s one of those truths that is difficult to see, until you look closely at what’s really there. To see something as it really is, we should try to identify our own bias, and then let it go. “Unnatural” Links This article tries to make sense of Google’s latest moves regarding links. It’s a reaction to Google’s update of their Link Schemes policy. Google’s policy states “Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site’s ranking... [...]

The latest ‘SEO Book’ blog post is titled “Winning Strategies to Lose Money With Infographics”. Aaron Wall says, “Google is getting a bit absurd with suggesting that any form of content creation that drives links should include rel=nofollow. Certainly some techniques may be abused, but if you follow the suggested advice, you are almost guaranteed to have a negative ROI on each investment – until your company goes under. Some will ascribe such advice as taking a “sustainable” and “low-risk” approach, but such strategies are only “sustainable” and... [...]

The latest ‘SEO Book’ blog post is titled “What Is Your SEO Strategy?”. Peterd says, “How do you determine your SEO strategy? Actually, before you answer, let’s step back. What Is SEO, Anyway? “Search engine optimization” has always been an odd term as it’s somewhat misleading. After all, we’re not optimizing search engines. SEO came about when webmasters optimized websites. Specifically, they optimized the source code of pages to appeal to search engines. The intent of SEO was to ensure websites appeared higher in search results than if the site was simply left to site designers... [...]

The latest ‘SEO Book’ blog post is titled “Authority Labs Review”. Eric Covino says, “There are quite a few rank tracking options on the market today and selecting one (or two) can be difficult. Some have lots of integrations, some have no integrations. Some are trustworthy, some are not. Deciding on the feature set is tough enough but you also need to take into account who is storing your data. Can you trust that person or company? Will they use your aggregate data in a blog post (which is a signal that they are using your data for their own gains) or use your data to out a client of... [...]

The latest ‘SEO Book’ blog post is titled “Pandas And Loyalty”. Peterd says, “SEOs debate ranking metrics over and over, but if there’s one thing for sure, it’s that Google no longer works the same way it used to. The fundamental shift in the past couple of years has been more emphasis on what could be characterized as engagement factors”. Pandas And Loyalty ‘SEO Book’ Blog  [...]

The latest ‘SEO Book’ blog post is titled “Building And Selling An SEO Business”. Peterd says, “There’s an in-depth discussion going on in the members area about how to sell an SEO business. There will surely be readers of the blog interested in the topic, too, so I thought I’d look at the more general issues of selling a business – SEO, or otherwise. Specifically, how to structure a business so it can be sold. Service-Based Businesses Service based businesses are attractive because they’re easy to establish”. Building And Selling An SEO Business ‘SEO Book’ Blog  [...]

The latest ‘SEO Book’ blog post is titled “Scaling Your SEO Business in 2013 and Beyond”. Eric Covino says, “Is “it” over? No. For SEO practitioners, it’s been quite a bumpy ride over the past few years. Costs have gone up, the broader economy has continued to go south, and margins may have gotten a bit tighter. Algorithms have gotten more wild, more complex, and Google has continue to trend towards less transparency while increasing their consumption of the SERPs. The evolution of SEO as a business model is summed up nicely by this quote from Walter Elliot”. Scaling... [...]

The latest ‘SEO Book’ blog post is titled “Keyword Research Plus”. Peterd says, “If we’re targeting keywords, getting good traffic as a result, but not converting as much traffic as we’d like, then it might be due to a market validation problem. Basic keyword research typically involves looking at the nature of the web site, creating a list of terms that describe the offers being made, expanding the keyword list out using keyword research tools, and then targeting those keyword terms. However, if that’s all a search marketer does, and fails to get conversions and engagement as a... [...]

The latest ‘SEO Book’ blog post is titled “Why Webmasters Pass Their Margins Onto the Googleplex”. Peterd says, “In previous articles, we’ve looked at the one-sided deal that has emerged when it comes to search engines and publishers. Whilst there is no question that search engines provide value to end users, it’s clear that the search engines are taking the lionshare of the value when it comes to web publishing. That isn’t sustainable. The more value stripped from publishing, the less money will be spent on publishing in future. In this respect, the search engines current business... [...]

The latest ‘SEO Book’ blog post is titled “Inbound, Outbound, Outhouse”. Aaron Wall says, “Jon Henshaw put the hammer down on inbound marketing highlighting how the purveyors of “the message” often do the opposite of what they preach. So much of the marketing I see around that phrase is either of the “clueless newb” variety, or paid push marketing of some stripe”.  [...]