Want to Learn Search Engine Optimization?

Learning about search engine optimization (SEO) takes time. Many will tell you to simply learn online.  They make it sound as easy as reading a few blogs and/or forums, and then in a week or two you will be able to do it yourself.  I disagree with this approach, and advocate a somewhat more structure process for learning SEO.

Learning SEO Starts With a Good Foundation

As with learning anything, it is important to start with a good foundation.  Developing a good understanding of the basic terminology and concepts of search engine optimization is crucial to your development as an SEO.  IMO this is best done by reading a book or two on the topic.

The reason I say read a book instead of reading blogs and forums to learn is that a book will lay out the information in a logical order.  Books will start with the most fundamental concepts and build on them.  When you try to learn solely by reading blogs and forums, you’ll pick up bits and pieces in a random order.  So it is often hard to piece things together.

You can pick most any book at your local Barnes & Nobles or Borders bookstore.  Just be sure it was published in the last year or two.  Don’t laugh, but even Search Engine Optimization for Dummies is a decent starting point.

Following the Greats

After you have read two or three books, I would then take your learning online.  Follow the people who have been in the business for a while and are well respected as SEOs. Some of my favorites are:

• Danny Sullivan at SearchEngineLand.com
• Aaron Wall at SEOBook.com
• Eric Ward at EricWard.com
• Rand Fishkin at SEOmoz.org
• Bill Slawski at SEOByTheSea.com

And though he is not really an SEO, it is always good to keep up with Matt Cutts from Google at MattCutts.com/blog.  He is the head of Google’s quality team who is constantly tweaking Google’s ranking algorithm to improve the quality of their search results.

While none of these guys are going to give away their “secret sauce”, you’ll begin to see how they think about and approach SEO.  They have a much different perspective than the average “Joe SEO” that you will encounter online.  I guess that is why they get paid the big bucks!

Experiment With Your Own Sites

After you have read about the basics and have started following some of the greats, there is no better way to learn than by doing.  Experience is the best teacher.

Try to optimize your web site yourself.  Start slowly so that if you make a bad decision that negatively affects your rankings, you know what likely caused it and how to undo the change.  Experiment with on-page, on-site, and off-site optimization.  Look for cause and effect.  The difference between being a so-so SEO and a great SEO is having the ability to hypothesize, create controlled experiments, execute those experiments, and observe the results.

Attending SEO Conferences

There are a few SEO conferences worthy of being noted here.  Pubcon is definitely my favorite search marketing conferences. Pubcon is put on by WebmasterWorld.com, one of the best search marketing forums on the web. It is held each year in Las Vegas during November or December.  Its attendees are not your standard corporate marketers.  These are people who generally make their living running their own sites out of their basements. The sessions at Pubcon are great, and the networking opportunities are endless.

SMX is another good search marketing conference, but it is a little more corporate. It is put on by Danny Sullivan and crew over at SearchEngineLand.com.  The last conference I’ll mention is SES.  It is also a bit corporate, but I hear it is still good.

Welcome to the Jungle

After you’ve read some books, experimented with your site, followed the SEO greats for a bit, and maybe even attended a conference or two… then you can delve into the jungle of online blogs and forums.  The reason I suggest waiting is that there is a lot of misinformation that gets posted via these online mediums.  And you need to have a good foundation in SEO so that you can distinguish between those who know and those who blow!

More SEO to come!

If you would like to learn SEO then stay tuned for more SEO-related posts here at WannaNetwork.com.  I plan to cover the basics of SEO in a logical order for those of you who have your own web site.