Is it better to just buy a book about SEO?

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by Aiwendel, Apr 23, 2009.

  1. #1
    Every time I try to find tips about SEO on internet, I just find biased information from someone trying to profit from my efforts. I understand this is how business always works.
    (someone is gonna advertise their E-book now, unless I say this :D )

    So instead of searching on internet is it better to just buy a good ol fashioned book? I'd imagine the author would be more willing to give truthful information in a book to value the integrity and to keep up the sales.

    So what's a good book about the subject? If I go to amazon for example, are all the ones with high ratings good?
     
    Aiwendel, Apr 23, 2009 IP
  2. vansterdam

    vansterdam Notable Member

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    #2
    I don't think you really need to buy a book to learn seo. Most seo books could be somewhat outdated by the time they are published. There are plenty of good forums and blogs that offer lots of good advice. Spend more time on this forum and other seo forums such as warriorforum, sitepoint and webproworld. Also read content on sites like seobook.com and seomoz.org. Focus on one area at a time and learn everything you can about that topic. Then once you learn enough, start trying those strategies. The experience you gain from actually doing seo will teach you a lot more. Do make sure you know enough before jumping into seo though, or you may end up getting penalized for not doing things correctly.
     
    vansterdam, Apr 23, 2009 IP
  3. RockyMtnHi

    RockyMtnHi Active Member

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    #3
    RockyMtnHi, Apr 23, 2009 IP
  4. seosapien

    seosapien Peon

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    #4
    You need to start finding a book or dvd with the basics concept if you don't have someone tutoring you. Once you understand all the basics from a reliable source than you can keep on reading online and you'll be able to differentiate what is true what isn't.

    I highly recommend the SEOmoz DVD set to all beginners, it is "expensive" but it is worth the money if you want to learn the basics of SEO.
     
    seosapien, Apr 23, 2009 IP
  5. teenwolf41

    teenwolf41 Peon

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    #5
    Back Links
    Pinging
    Social Bookmarking
    submission to websites
    Link Exchanges
    Free Advertising
    Forum posting

    = Theres your free SEO book. Enjoy.
     
    teenwolf41, Apr 23, 2009 IP
  6. kbeus21

    kbeus21 Peon

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    #6
    I wouldn't buy a book since most that think they know about seo usually they don't. Stick with forums they are the number one place to get up to date knowledge on seo. This is the site that taught me seo it is a free training I wouldn't say it is biased since it helped me get high in the serps anyway check it out>> http://www.seo-guy.com/tutorial.html
     
    kbeus21, Apr 23, 2009 IP
  7. RockyMtnHi

    RockyMtnHi Active Member

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    RockyMtnHi, Apr 23, 2009 IP
  8. newlogo

    newlogo Peon

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    #8
    to buy book instead of that u need to experiment seo work on fresh website, that give better idea
     
    newlogo, Apr 23, 2009 IP
  9. akki123

    akki123 Peon

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    #9
    100% agreed with this. very well explained and really a good advice to SEO starters.

    One more thing to add is try to implement the SEO instead of reading... make your small blog and try to do SEO for it... sure it will clear so many doubts. also test test test any of the thing you have read about SEO.

    Thats it... you will be confident enough to do really good SEO.
     
    akki123, Apr 24, 2009 IP
  10. Cernus11

    Cernus11 Peon

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    #10
    I was on an SEO forum for a few months before buying my first book. I learned 1 or 2 new things but that was it. All the information you need to be successful is on the internet.
     
    Cernus11, Apr 24, 2009 IP
  11. thewanderingpen

    thewanderingpen Peon

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    #11
    Dude, I think a thorough and careful search on the internet along with asking the right people (and having a little bit of luck) will teach you everything about SEO.

    That's just my 2 cents though.

    thewanderingpen
     
    thewanderingpen, Apr 24, 2009 IP
  12. Canonical

    Canonical Well-Known Member

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    #12
    I think different people learn different ways. It just really depends on "how" you like to learn.

    Personally, the first thing I did was read 2-3 good SEO books in a 1.5-2 wk period. I read before work, on break, at lunch, after work, before bed. Just make sure the book was written in 2007-2009 so that you know it's recent. This is a good way for many to get the fundamentals of SEO down.

    Once I had a basic knowledge of SEO from reading a few books, I began trolling forums like WebmasterWorld.com, Google's Help Forums, and a few others. Knowing the fundamentals helped me in several ways:

    1) It helped me to better understand WTH people were talking about in the forums. If I don't have the fundamentals, some kind of foundation in SEO, I would have been clueless about what they were asking/saying.

    2) It helped me form better questions that I wanted to post on forums. Not many people want to answer random forum posts like, "What is SEO?" or "How do I do SEO on my new site?" or whatever... And the people who tend to answer these types of posts are newbies with replies like, "It's how you make your site rank" or "Set the title, description, and keywords tags to rank well." They are clueless half the time.

    Because I already knew a bit about SEO, I could ask more intelligent, more specific questions and more people were likely to respond.

    3) It makes it MUCH easier to tell who might know what they are talking about and who is BS'ing.

    Books first, then forums and conferences like Pubcon, and a LOT of trial and error (observation, deduction, and experimentation) is what worked for me.

    But everyone learns differently.
     
    Canonical, Apr 24, 2009 IP
  13. freelistfool

    freelistfool Peon

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    #13
    freelistfool, Apr 24, 2009 IP
  14. stevod

    stevod Greenhorn

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    #14
    stevod, Apr 24, 2009 IP