The Art of SEO: Book Review

March 11, 2010 by ian

Whenever I read a book on SEO, I want to slap the author. First there's the inevitable reference to keyword meta tags. Then there's the "Write great content" line. And the "put more keywords on every page". Or there's great stuff like "Exchange links with other sites".

Bleah.

So, when I cracked The Art of SEO: Mastering Search Engine Optimization (Theory in Practice) I was skeptical. The authors are the top folks in the industry - Rand Fishkin, Stephan Spencer, Eric Enge and Jesse Stricchiola - but I figured there's some kind of stupid club that all editors use to beat SEO authors.

Thankfully, I was wrong. The Art of SEO actually talks about SEO. In a serious, productive way.

The book goes from very basic stuff, like keyword research and basic optimization tips, up to advanced topics like reverse proxy SEO and SEO analytics. In between, the authors talk about link-worthy content and how to create it, how the world uses search engines, and search engines' defining goals.

Most important, the book adds a strong air of respectability to an industry that most folks consider slightly below drug dealing.

If I have any complaint, it's the lack of a Kindle edition. Seems trivial, but I love my new DX and ended up reading the electronic edition from my Safari Bookshelf. It was less-than-perfectly formatted.

A few folks have said the book gets too detailed. Ignore them. SEO is all about the details! And this is one of the few I've seen that do a good job of covering them. You can buy the book on Amazon.com:

The Art of SEO: Mastering Search Engine Optimization (Theory in Practice)

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I have a book of my own - I'm only a Dummie, though. Other books you need to read include Trust Agents and the classic, Scientific Advertising.

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