Search Engine Visibility

by Shari Thurow

Book Overview

Search Engine Visibility is not about obtaining top positions in search results. It is about designing, writing, and creating a web site for your site's visitors. This book teaches developers,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0321503244
• ISBN13: 9780321503244
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: New Riders Publishing
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A Must Have for SEO Beginners

I read Thurow's original 2003 edition way back when, and that is what I am commenting on now. The earlier version was the absolute best approach to take at the time when I was brand new to SEO and website design in general. It was very helpful, easy to read and non-technical. While I do not do SEO professionally, after applying the info in the book, the sites I maintain are ranked on page 1 for their keywords/phrases and get a lot of relevant traffic. If you have a small business, then you will quickly realize that you don't need to hire an expensive SEO expert, because you can do this yourself. If you have a large company or are in IT, etc., and you need to hire someone, then you will have a pretty good idea of what kinds of firms/persons to avoid, and promises to be wary of. Some of the suggestions in the earlier version are dated now, but hopefully these have been edited out of this edition. I read some of the other reviews that were complaints. I doubt the following: 1) those people realized that it was a book for beginners before starting, and 2) that they actually read the ENTIRE book.

Overview AND detail

In this recent 2nd edition, Thurow includes both overview material and the details of how to accomplish this critical goal for commercial sites. It's conceptual and it's useable -- a refreshing combination in this field. I found it immediately applicable, and also well-written.

Best SEO book for beginners

Those who have written that this book is misleading etc are seeing things too much from their own point of view. To be honest, there was nothing in this book I did not already know. But how long had it taken me to learn all that knowledge? I think the author has done a great job of producing a comprehensive product that will take a person who wants to learn SEO from knowing nothing to the point were they know the basics. And the basics are really what counts in this business. I am employed full time as a Search Engine Optimization Specialist by a multi-million dollar company and no, this book is not for SEO professionals but it is definately the best book for beginners and the small office/home office crowd (and there are quite a few of them).This book is enough for small business owners but if you want to progress as a professional after mastering this book then I recommend "Web Metrics: Proven Methods for Measuring Web Site Success" by Jim Sterne.

A Must-Read for Web Designers and Business Owners

Shari Thurow offers practical tips for effective and "safe" search engine optimization. She reveals the design techniques that attract search engine spiders without compromising Web site aesthetics (yea!). She also provides examples and resources to help business owners create a search engine marketing strategy, and to help Web designers implement it. I appreciated the detailed recommendations - such as the character length of meta data and how to use the "robots.txt" file. Thurow's design experience shines through her suggestions too; for example, what font/typeface and hyperlink colors best appeal to Web site customers. Even if readers are looking to outsource their search engine optimization efforts, this book will educate them on the techniques that professional firms should use.

Outstanding guide to common sense search engine promotion!

This book puts search engine optimization in perspective. If you've been looking at the web sites of search engine optimization firms and not been able to figure out what it is they do, this book will clue you in as to what you should expect to hear from a reputable company. It may also be an eye opener if you think attaining top rankings in the main search results on engines like Google is as simple as breaking out the checkbook and paying some company to "do optimization" without making any changes to your website (though there are some companies that can pull this off for surprisingly long periods of time). Search Engine Visibility is the first book I've ever seen that acknowledges search engine optimization does not exist in a vacuum separate from the business or philanthropic goals of a website. Search engine optimization should be an integral part of the planning and design stages of any website. It's refreshing to see a publication that emphasizes this.This book will help you understand what you can do to increase search engine referrals and further your business goals without spamming the engines. [Though if you take everything in this book literally you may be scared that if you put a few words in your meta tags that don't appear in the copy of your page Google will ban your site - that's just not going to happen, but you do put your site at risk if you resort to some of the other Spam tactics mentioned in the book]You'll learn best practices in:* Keyword research and selection* Site design and layout* Designing search engine friendly navigation systems* Crafting keyword (and user!) focused copy on your pages* Improving visibility for search engine "challenged" sites* Preparing for and doing directory submissionsThe section on dealing with directories and directory editors is probably the best write up of the directory planning, submission, and listing process I've ever seen. [This comes from one who has been one of those editors since 99'] It gives you very realistic expectations with respect to getting your site listed in the major web directories. Follow the included guidelines and checklists and you can't go wrong. Chances are, however, it will take a fairly long time for your site to get reviewed and listed unless you expressly pay for an express review.You won't find the minute technical details of how each engine works in this book and you don't need them. All engines look at the link text and visible copy on your site as well as some combination of title, description, keyword, alt, and header tags. Focus on the basics and you'll do just fine. Keep your eye on your customers; a search engine spider will never buy anything from you. To round out your search engine optimization/marketing library be sure to pick up a copy of "NetWords", "Persuasive Online Copywriting", and a good book on style sheets (CSS) such as "Designing CSS Web Pages" By Christopher Schmitt or "Eric Meyer on CSS" For more up to the minute info on sea