Many companies depend on business from customers who never heard of them, but find out about them after searching for a product or service online. Generally, the company-customer connection occurred because the company’s website was at or near the top of a list generated by this online search.
Many search engines, including Google, though, often change their formula for determining who ranks high on these searches. Consequently, many companies often seek advice on what is called search engine optimization (SEO).
Recently, I was given an assignment that included finding the best recently published books on SEO. Below is my list. They’re listed in alphabetical order by the authors’ last names.
Ten Books That Can Help Your Website Get More Attention
1. “SEO Simplified - Learn Search Engine Optimization Strategies and Principles for Beginners” Author R.L. Adams has written many SEO books. This one was written for the beginner. Adams focuses on helping readers understand the basic principles of how search engines operate. Because the book is for beginners, it doesn’t delve into technical details, but instead is written like a story in a book so beginners can understand the basics.
2. “Google Semantic Search: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Techniques That Get Your Company More Traffic, Increase Brand Impact, and Amplify Your Online Presence” Author David Amerland explains why techniques that businesses use to get themselves at or near the top of Google search results no longer work and why. This book is very technical because it explains things like Knowledge Graph and Trust Ranking and how you can use them to improve your online authoritativeness, reputability, and credibility.
3. “SEO For 2013 & Beyond: SEO Made Simple For Beginners” Author Partha Bhattacharya challenges the premise that formulating a successful SEO strategy is all about doing everything you can to make sure that you rank high on Google’s search results. In fact, Bhattacharya argues that constantly changing your SEO strategy to accommodate Google’s various algorithms such as Panda, Penguin, and Phantom is a bad long-term strategy and lays out a long-term strategy for the readers.
4. “Step-By-Step SEO: The Complete Guide To Search Engine Success” Author Matthew Davidson, as the title of the book suggests, takes an approach that makes it easy for readers to understand how to formulate a successful SEO strategy. The step-by-step approach includes teaching readers how to find the right words that will lure new visitors to their websites, how to build connections with other websites that will help them lure more visitors to their websites, and how to make their websites more authoritative.
5. “Inbound Marketing and SEO: Insights from the Moz Blog” Authors Rand Fishkin and Thomas Hogenhaven are not telling readers their SEO strategies. They have chosen instead to find the best articles about the subject. This gives readers an opportunity to read the thoughts of several SEO experts and pick what strategy or strategies work best for them. The book also includes substantive information on topics such as content marketing, conversion rate optimization, and online marketing.
6. “SEO Made Simple: Strategies for Dominating the World's Largest Search Engine” Author Michael H. Fleischner’s book, as the title suggests, is focused on Google. Do you want to understand Google’s 2.0 algorithm? If the answer is ‘yes,’ this is the book for you. Fleischner has very specific advice on keywords and he claims that his information on proven SEO techniques can help readers soar to the top of Google’s rankings in less than 30 days.
7. “Search Engine Optimization: Your visual blueprint for effective Internet marketing” Author Kristopher B. Jones has done more than write a book. This book is a visual guide to search engine optimization. He explains concepts such as content creation, internal linking, keyword generation, and URL structure visually so the readers can see how each concept works and what each concept does. The book is also written in a step-by-step format so readers can build on their knowledge of each concept visually and textually.
8. “SEO Toolbook: The Best Free Search Engine Optimization Tools for Google and Bing” Author Jason McDonald formulates his own "Best SEO Books" lists himself and his book is on this one because it does a great job of helping readers vault to the top of more than one search engine’s search results pages. The book includes advice on how to vault to the top of local search engines’ search results pages, shows how you can measure your performance over time, and includes advice on how to make your page tags work with keywords and how to write press releases.
9. “SEO For 2013: Search Engine Optimization Made Easy” Authors Sean Odom and Christian Habermann help readers reach the top of the search engine results of the search engines used by Bing, Google, and Yahoo. The book explains Google’s Panda and Penguin algorithms as well as Google Author, Google and Bing Webmaster Tools, and Google Analytics. and the latest in SEO. It also includes a multitude of SEO strategies and tips.
10. “SEO 2014 & Beyond: Search engine optimization will never be the same again” Dr. Andy Williams’ book is on several "Best SEO Books" lists. And for good reason. It not only explains Googe’s Panda and Penguins algorithms, but it also explains the Hummingbird algorithm. But the book does more than explain how recent SEO algorithms have affected businesses. It also, as the title suggests, peaks into the future. SEO 2014 & Beyond also explains the ramifications of owning exact match domains and gives readers tips on how to choose the best domain names and how to use them.
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