SEO Resources
Recommended By Michael Martinez

If you are unable to obtain a contract with SE cOnsulting, don't panic. There are other good resources out there for SEO services. And if you want to learn more about search engine optimization, you can find some good information on the World Wide Web. But don't go blindly rushing into SEO forums looking for advice.

Generally speaking, virtually any active SEO forum can provide you with reasonably good information about basic page-optimization principles. In fact, if you only optimize one factor of on-page content, most SEO forum moderators would probably agree it should be the title tag. That kind of lowest common denominator approach to SEO forum advice will usually keep you in safe territory. Not always, but usually. You can safely ignore any discussion that mentions PageRank. PageRank has nothing to do with relevance, and anyone who says it is connected to relevance has absolutely no clue as to what they are doing.

One forum where you usually find good advice is Spider-Food's search engine optimization forums. Established by J.K. Bowman in 1999, Spider-Food was once one of the most widely respected source of SEO information on the Web. Although J.K. has become less active and the main Spider-Food site is (as of November 2006) still somewhat out-of-date, there are many very good discussions archived in the forums.

Another forum where you'll find some good advice is Jill Whelan's HighRankings Forum. Jill and her moderators are not very strong on reverse engineering search engine algorithms, but their approach could be described as more holistic. They believe firmly in creating unique, good, informative content. They practice fundamental Web design principles and many of the regulars and moderators advocate solid, sound, professional techniques for analyzing keywords and traffic building strategies. They are not algorithm experts and they don't have to be. They look at the big picture and advocate long-term growth strategies that are very good methodologies for weathering the occasional changes in search engine results.

And while Doug Heil is one of the most disliked SEOs in the industry, his self-proclaimed white hat approach to SEO follows established fundamental principles. Like Jill Whelan, Heil advocates building content-rich sites, maximizing internal linkage, and working with only legitimate linking sources. The often hostile discussions in Doug's SEO Best Practices Forums detract from the professional demeanor, but many other SEO forums also engage in occasional hostile discussions.

Rand Fishkin's SEOMoz has become legendary in the search engine optimization community. Rand's gift is primarily in strategizing for the market. His search ranking factors article is the most thorough, well-balanced treatment of possible influences upon search engine ranking results composed by anyone in the SEO industry. Rand's Beginner's Guide to SEO is also a pretty good introduction to the principles of the industry. In fact, it is most likely the absolute best introduction to the principles of search engine optimization available on the Internet today. Despite a weakness in algorithm analysis, Rand understands the cause-and-effect strategies employed by SEOs as well as anyone. In short, you don't have to really understand what the algorithms are doing in order to develop an effective approach to getting sites to rank.

Although they tend to favor WebmasterWorld's forums more than others, Search Engine Roundtable is usually the most thorough, reliable source of information about what is being discussed in forums and at SEO conferences. While some of the ideas coming out of WebmasterWorld are useful, most of the theories and arguments presented by WMW members are useless nonsense. Regrettably, SE Roundtable gives far too much credence to the nonsense, but at least they offer a fairly brief summation of critical points brought up at WMW.

While there are very, very few SEO bloggers whose blogs are worth following on a regular basis, if you're going to chase search engine algorithms, you will want to stay on top of Bill Slawski's SEO By The Sea blog because he is without challenge the best documenter of search engine patent applications. His analyses of the patent applications are thoughtful if not always correct (no one is always correct, but Bill is usually far less hare-brained and much more balanced in his analyses and presentations than other SEO analysts).

Shari Thurow of Grantastic Designs is indisputably one of the most technically qualified members of the SEO community because she has the education to back up what she says. That doesn't mean she is always right, but she is more often misunderstood by her critics than they are right to criticize her. She understands the technology far better than most of the popular SEO pundits. Another good source of technical information, especially for algorithm chasers, is Dr. Edel Garcia's Mi Islita. Dr. Garcia is Puertuguese and his English is not perfect, but like Shari Thurow he is one of only a handful of people in the field who have any qualified education in the area of search services and information retrieval. Some of the things on his Web site are a bit naive (like the references to Alexa, which many people in the SEO community know can be manipulated more than one way), but if you have to choose between his analysis of an algorithm and, say, any SEO eBook writer's analysis, go with Dr. Garcia. Every time.

If you're looking for professional search engine optimization help, the firms operated by the above people are all considered to be top-notch in the field. You may also want to check out 1st Query, whose technical staff are professional and well-versed in SEO theory. They don't spend their days pontificating in forums, but they are creative, resourceful, and tenacious. They don't like to lose in the rankings, and they don't like to chase non-performing keywords.

An up-and-coming SEO is Nicolette Beard, who lives in the Houston area. She has worked mostly with industrial organizations that need to dominate their verticals. She has a no-nonsense approach and she doesn't get hung up on PageRank. If you get an opportunity to work with Nicolette, you'll enjoy it. She's full of fire and has a lot of marketing experience that she brings to the technical side.

Another Houston area SEO worth mentioning is Ed Schipul, who is a leader in the growing Houston online tech community. He organizes Houston's NetSquared meetings every month, but he has integrity and a solid record of helping many non-profit organizations dominate their verticals. And at least one of his clients gets a lot of referrals for a highly competitive commercial industry.

On the search side, everyone knows you should browse Matt Cutts's blog, but while he usually presents very useful advice for people, many self-promoting SEOs tend to post absolute nonsense in his blog comments. There are, however, a slew of interesting questions that the SEOs ask Matt. Sometimes, he provides a very informative answer that sheds a little light on a mystery. The Inside Google Books blog often provides great examples of how to use a blog for effective marketing. Just analyzing how they package and present their information would help many people stumbling through various update woes.

There are other SEOs out there who are either good or adequate. Most companies actually get by with just an adequate SEO, but you have to be careful of referrals, even from a site like this. Just because someone is technically competent doesn't mean they are the SEO you should do business with. And just because someone gives you a referral doesn't mean they are setting you up with a great match. If you find a referral doesn't work out, you can help the referrer by letting them know, "Hey, this didn't work for me." If people who make referrals get enough feedback, they'll know who to continue recommending and who not to.

Disclaimer

Services are provided "as is" and without guaranteed rankings or placements. Search engine optimization is a statistically valid business practice but rankings and placements may vary at times due to circumstances beyond your control. Past performance does not guarantee that future results will be satisfactory or consistent. Our goal is to help you identify the search expressions you should be ranking for, to achieve the best possible rankings, and to improve your return on investment.