IndustrySEO.edu: Can You Learn SEO From a Book? – Part 3

SEO.edu: Can You Learn SEO From a Book? - Part 3

The 4 PRs of search engine blogs (press releases, product releases, proper rules, PageRank) won't solve SEO problems. Where SEO Pros find Experts.

In “SEO.edu: Can You Learn SEO From a Book? – Part 2,” I introduced you to the not-so-super secret world of wholly-sanctioned search engine bloggery: Google, Yahoo, Ask, and Microsoft Live. What some SEO pros call beneficial search engine propaganda.

Search engines give SEOs the three PRs: Press Releases, and Product Releases and Proper Rules to follow for submitting sites to search engines. Oh yeah, and the fourth PR: PageRank.

But what happens when you wake up one morning to find you or your client’s site, which was ranking sixth yesterday for “fondue party,” has suddenly disappeared off the radar and Google says nothing?

You refer to the experts.

In this installment, I’ll focus on SEO blogs with multiple contributors who work in the industry. In other words, these are people with real world experience who help get you the info you need to be the best SEO pro you can be.

Based on some fancy Technorati numbers, here are a handful of the tastiest and most informative SEO blogs out there.

Wisdom of the Crowd: You are HERE

Search Engine Watch Experts offer quality SEO tips covering basic info on the fundamentals of SEO to expert advice for corporations like Justilien Gaspard’s “7 Tips for Training Link Developers.” Daily posts, member’s areas, and discussion forums will also keep you up to date and coming back for more. Yes, it’s the site you’re reading now.

Search Engine Watch Blog has been the top “go to” site for search marketers since 1997 when it was launched as a resource for Webmasters. The blog also covers daily news and analyzes the search industry, such as in Kevin Newcomb’s post, “Defining Search in 2007.”

Blogging the Forums

Search Engine Roundtable is a forum of forums. Daily posts are derived from popular forums threads, including the Search Engine Watch Forums and Search Engine Roundtable’s own forum. The forums are typically moderated by professional search marketers offering their advice and experience, as well as debating industry trends and changes.

Recent topics included a Google AdSense YouTube error, Yahoo relevance checks, and Wal-Mart offering SEM services (I’m guessing by 12-year-old kids making $0.23 an hour). SER also offers a Daily Forum Recap covering the happenings of the forums each day.

SEO News and Views

If SEO Chat were just a blog, it still would have made it onto the list: several posts a week, plenty of original content, and recent topics such as Google’s environmental concerns, fuzz testing, and tips to a solid redesign. But SEO Chat delivers much more.

If you’re just starting out on SEO, come for the video and text tutorials, and use all the available resources to stock your toolbox. Stay for the articles and “Tech News You Can’t Use” podcast. If you have a question, you can probably find the answer here.

SEO Chicks, launched in May 2007, is gaining a solid following with the six “chicks that make SEO hot.” I’d call this a gimmick, but these women are as knowledgeable and experienced as any other professional group blog, if not more so.

Almost-daily original posts keep it fresh. The playful wit of these ladies keeps it fun.

Search Engine Journal focuses on news and commentary in the SEO world. They also sponsor an annual SEM blog awards, with several Search Engine Watch bloggers nominated.

Recent topics included Google’s DoubleClick acquisition, WikiaSearch, and Google Reader controversy. With multiple contributors and multiple posts per day, this is a good one to subscribe to if you want to keep up with SEO news on a daily basis.

Search Engine Land has lots of daily industry news with a focus on the major search engines with sections like Google Land, Yahoo Land, and Microsoft Land. If you want the highlights, then check out the SearchCap, which gives you a summary of the daily search news. Multiple daily posts keep the content fresh and furious.

SEOmoz Blog is a blog providing daily news, tips, and highlights from multiple authors. They allow readers to contribute blog entries in their YOUmoz section and high ranking posts are promoted to the main SEOmoz blog. Almost-daily updates make it worth the stop and anchors like Whiteboard Friday and Weekly Round-ups are a nice touch.

The Rest

Aside from SEO-specific blogs, you can also sometimes catch SEO news on other sites like Techdirt, C|Net, and even Boing Boing. SEO is becoming such an integral part of the Web that it commonly slips into general tech and forum conversations. All you have to do is pay attention.

One final note: like all things search engine, we can only index a small percentage of the vast number of search marketing resources available online. If your favorite blog starts running stagnant, drop it. Keep your eyes peeled for the next hot blog, but don’t forget to revisit the ones you’ve found beneficial in the past.

Next time I’ll tackle some of the single-author SEO blogs.

E-mail me with the top two or three SEO blogs that help you do your job better.

Resources

The 2023 B2B Superpowers Index
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The 2023 B2B Superpowers Index

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Data Analytics in Marketing
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Data Analytics in Marketing

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The Third-Party Data Deprecation Playbook
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The Third-Party Data Deprecation Playbook

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Utilizing Email To Stop Fraud-eCommerce Client Fraud Case Study
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Utilizing Email To Stop Fraud-eCommerce Client Fraud Case Study

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