The best SEO/SEM info (crowd sourced)

I would have to say http://www.seomoz.org/blog never failed to bring about technical specs of SEO while http://www.seobook.com/blog has always been successful in delivering excellent business insights in relation to SEO.

This is off the subject, but some of the stuff I find most interesting and valuable as well as enjoyable is like that off the cuff interview you did with the Whack on the Side of the Head guy. And you just did that with a notebook computer, nothing fancy schmantzy. I posted that link somewhere and somebody wrote back, "Hey, thinks for that, it gave some good ideas on a business problem I was working on." So the serendipity flows.
I love Leo, and his podcasts are what first got me interested in this stuff and probably how I became aware of you. And his stuff is terribly interesting and fascinating if only you tune in to see how he does it, see what he is doing. But the actual value or information I'm getting from a typical Twit broadcast, the content part at least, lately, seems to be less than a year or two ago.
So I don't know if one has to do all this build a whole studio stuff. The fancier your studio gets may be inversely proportional to the value of your actual content.
Just a thought, mainly for myself. I'm sure your shows will be great even if you get the fancier equipment. It's fun to watch it go up in and of itself, but I'm sure you'll stay on topic maybe even get more intensely so, because that's what you're interested in.

You might like to check out my blog, blogstorm.co.uk. Full of good stuff.

Wow, thanks a whole lot. It's one of those things that's been on my mind for quite a while but with the internet chock-full of everyone and their SEO book and services, it's hard to filter through to quality.

I'm glad you asked the question, and more glad you shared the answers.

I don't think you need to focus on SEO. It's 2009 and not that relevant anymore...

Just build quality content for your readers, it will organically attract links from other blogs / social media, and that will attract Google.

And I would say you are already good at that... you're even ranking for "Robert"...

Are you building it in Wordpress? I can send you some good links that are wordpress specific.

First of all, your blog looks SEXY all naked like this. I almost want a retro blue link website now..Ah, nah..

Although Marko is a little right, I think you can never have enough knowledge. There is no need to go overboard, but a strong foundation of knowledge is best and will help you decide what is best for your site.

Matt Cutts says GWB, and I agree. Great info there. Also webmaster world. Some nice detailed conversations on that forum. SEO Moz and SEO book are on my list too.

Surprised more folks didn't come here to drop links, where there's less noise. Me? I might be biased, but LinkMoses http://www.ericward.com/articles/ and the Link Building Best Practices QandA http://www.ericward.com/bestpractices/ are on my must read list.

I believe its all about churning out fantastic content. If you're content is great it will naturally be popular. of course knowing how search engines ranks sites will also help.

Cheers!

Google etc seem to rank my blog posts fairly highly (some of 'em, anyway!). In case it's of interest I distilled the stuff I learned into a slight take off of well known proverbs and the like, which I listed in "6 Sayings for Search Engine Success (Top Tips to Boost Blog Ranking)" - the expanded details are in the post linked to.

1. Content is king, originality the crown, and text the crown jewels.
2. Relatedness raises relevance.
3. The early words get the spider, and headings make things tastier.
4. Links in to your blog's web address (URL) are good, good links in are better, good link text is best.
5. Link out liberally - cite sites for authority and authenticity.
6. A blog post a day keeps bots from going away; a regular diet is just how they like it.

Bob,

I'm no expert, but if there's one thing I've learned from you, it that it's not about SEO, it's about YEO (You Engaging Others).

Also, given your popularity, I don't think you have to give a hoot about SEO. You're pre-optimized. Google results are a popularity contest that boils down to the number of sites linking to you and their PageRanks.

Given the number of sites already linking to you (many influential in their own right, which juices your links even more), you already have your SEO in the bag.

Certainly anyone who is off the radar can and should get their head around both SEO and YEO, and understand how to produce optimized content and relationships online. But you? I have to think you're already there.

One more thing: You're on WordPress. Let a plug-in do perfunctory optimization for you.

http://mashable.com/2009/03/20/wordpress-seo-pl...

(I would have posted this to FF but, uh, doh, I'm not on my home PC and my logon is there!)

I am sure I will be attacked for this, but SEO is like religion. No one has a clue what works, people try many different things - some work and some don't. Just like religion - some claim to know the answers - but they a) probably don't and b) won't really share.

So, like religion you need to study the basics and go with your brain and heart. And keep your act clean. God (in this case Google) is really fussy about that.

And I agree with others above. You are in good shape. Keep up the great posts, attracting the serious community. Google sees all that and that's all you need.

Robert,

The truth is, you don't need much help in the SEO department as some other readers have observed. You're a well known and respected author who writes on the web A LOT. Most of the companies that I help with SEO don't write fresh content much, they don't have blogs, they aren't in Fast Company, they don't have a huge following. SEO is that path that they need to get them there.

Folks who have companies online trying to sell washing machine spacer widgets aren't going to have much luck in getting throngs of twitter followers, or even blog visitors. That's where the SEO practitioners come in to assist.

- Business Web Coach

Orange County SEO

Great resource of info, thanks for sharing. You've seen a lot of link building strategies out there on the internet. Some include directory submission, blogging, forum participation, link exchanging and much more. There is one thing that all legitimate backlink building campaign strategies have in common. They all take plenty of valuable time and resources to work successfully!

SEO is really a useful tool if you really want to drive good traffic to your site... plus the fact that you will use Wordpress.. Great post..