Product Description

“If we build it, they will come.”

Unfortunately, in the field of Web sites, that’s an unfulfilled dream. Having a Web site does not automatically guarantee having traffic, even if you register the site with appropriate search engines. Whether you’re an e–tailer who wants customers, a business that wants clients, or an organization that wants to get your message out, Search Engine Optimization For Dummies explains the rules of the game with information on:

• Spiders—not the yucky kind, but the software that grabs Web pages, and then,,reads and indexes the information
• Search indexes or engines, search directories, non–spidered indexes, and pay–per–click systems
• The eight search systems you really need to impress and how to get your pages into them
• Keywords and how to choose them strategically and use them often
• Submitting to the directories, including the biggies (Yahoo! Directory and the Open Director Project) and second–tier directories
• Using shopping directories for e–commerce sites, complete with a list of nine popular ones and CPCs (cost per click) for various types of merchandise on various sites

Written by Peter Kent, e–commerce consultant, popular speaker, and critically–acclaimed author, Search Engine Optimization For Dummies helps you build a search engine– friendly site (or fix an existing site) and build traffic, showing you how to:

• Use effective Web site structure and text, including filenames, directory structure, title tags, descriptive meta tags, keyword meta tags, and an HTML navigation system,
• Avoid things search engines avoid, such as frames, invisible navigation systems, including those created with Java applets, Java Scripts and Macromedia Flash, cluttered sites overloaded with HTML unrelated to content, and more
• Bulk up your site with content—original or recycled
• Use specialized search systems to attract valuable, highly targeted traffic
• Use link popularity to boost your position and your PageRank

Complete with a tear–out cheat sheet and information about Web sites you may want to hit for even more information, Search Engine Optimization For Dummies will help you make the Web site hit list.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #303071 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Review
  “…required reading for anyone with a presence on the internet…better than the rest…might be the best investment you ever make…” (ITWales.com, August 2004)

“..money well spent if you’re serious about boosting your web potential…” (4 stars…)” (Internet Works, October 2004)

From the Back Cover
Build sites search engines love, and see your business boom

Find out how to make your site pop to the top when the search is on

Search engines, search directories, search systems – it’s enough to make you search for antacids! Well, relax – this book not only tells you which is which, it gives you the inside track on which ones to impress. Find out about pay–per–click search engine advertising, what your site needs to lure search engines, how and where to register, and more.

The Dummies Way

• Explanations in plain English
• "Get in, get out" information
• Icons and other navigational aids
• Tear–out cheat sheet
• Top ten lists
• A dash of humor and fun

Discover how to:

• Choose powerful keywords for your pages
• Increase visibility in search engines
• Avoid penalties
• Encourage other sites to link to yours
• Track your hits
• Use pay–per–click advertising productively

About the Author
Peter Kent is an e–commerce consultant who specializes in search engine optimization. He has written nearly fifty books and founded an e–business service provider.

Customer Reviews

Very good overview
I have been reading a lot about SEO on the Internet and thought I would buy a book to see if I was missing anything.

I dont normally like Dummies guides, the attempts at humor are often irrelevant and tedious, I prefer books that cut to the chase.

I was really impressed with this book, I knew a lot of the stuff already, but this book really helped consolidate what I knew, and taught me a lot more on top.

I found this book really helped me get into an "SEO Mindset" as it is so comprehensive. I now understand why I am doing things as opposed to just doing them, and have a much better overview of the subject.

I have the second edition from 2006 and was pleased to see more recently released google tools covered (which I was already using).

The author does plug a couple of paid services, but takes time to explain his motives and relationship with these companies and suggests free alternatives, thus maintaining his integrity.

I mentioned earlier that I am normally irritated by attempts at humor in Dummies books, however humor is used to make valid points in this book, as opposed to padding it out with rubbish.

The book is practical as opposed to technical and should be accessible to a broad readership.

The first few chapters cover all the "common knowledge" you can find easily with google (frames, flash, images vs text, links, keywords.....)

There is a very good chapter on content, stuff on advertising, available tools, a chapter on grey / black hat techniques and an explanation of the risks (of attempting to cheat search engines) and a lot more ........

This book is an absolute must for a beginner, and for the price well worth the money for the intermediate designer / customer.

If you are about to pay someone to build and SEO a site for you, you really want to read this, it will give you a good overview of what you are about to pay for, realistically what you can expect in terms of results, and have enough knowledge to see if the work has been done properly, or whether any work has been done at all!

Just about right
I run around a dozen websites and felt I needed to do some background reading on this subject, rather than just assume I knew all there was to know - I learnt plenty and cemented a lot of assumed knowledge.
I have a couple of other Dummies guides but this is by far the best - for the first time I read a Dummies book cover to cover, and in just two sittings.
The simple stuff, like ideal page layouts, is covered quickly so as not to be boring and the complex stuff like the Google PageRank algorithm is covered at a user friendly depth.
This is a well judged, well rounded guide covering a broad subject at an accessible depth. Recommended.

A great introduction to search engine optimisation
Worth every penny of the price this book will guide you through the basics of search engine optimisation, and increasing the visibility of your web site to the search engines.

Full of common sense, it helped me to put my web site on the first page of google, Yahoo and MSN for masses of search terms and phrases, boosting my site visits massively. You can take what you learn here and apply it with some clever thought and planning to dominate and gain a competitive advantage over your competitors. You will learn for example, that you really only need to concern yourself with three or four of the search engines as many of the others derive records from the same sources.

Its coverage is fairly comprehensive, and is lacking only in coverage of new Google developments with Google Sitemaps.