Ok... always a fun topic I have once more set out to see what peeps feel are the best ways to go about learning SEO. It is a given, as with most things in life, that hands-on is the best teacher... what other ways are there?

I am curious as to what ya'll think as this topic seems to never have a single answer... first the goodies;

How to learn SEO in 2008- here on SR

Learning SEO; talking to experts- on the Trail (asked some industry folks what they thought)

So now I ask you for your thoughts... (shall link to this post from both Blogs)

Well the first step should be to look within yourself and determine if you even have the capability to separate fact from fiction.

After that a good starting point would be reading and then partially implementing select tasks and gauging their effectiveness. Speaking only for myself… SEO is just one of the bases in a ballgame. While we think about SEO during content creation, we seemingly tend to spend more time on audited P&L, managing growth and inventory management than we do SEO. Yes, sadly I am pretty turned off by the industry as a whole, I think I am down to regularly reading at just 3 sites. Personally I would like to see more usefull stuff for beginners, i.e. material that has more emphasis on site architecture and real world conversion tactics.

Happy to be a simpleton shirt maker

waveshoppe wrote:

Personally I would like to see more usefull stuff for beginners, i.e. material that has more emphasis on site architecture and real world conversion tactics.

Happy to be a simpleton shirt maker

well, it goes without saying that hands-on is required... I am always curious in the conversation of how others find learning easiest...

The whole signal to noise issue is a huge one.

What kind of material do U think is needed BTW? Site structure or onsite SEO as a whole?

(conversions is another story altogether, but I guess it can be addressed in SEO terms at least ie; investment on worthless terms)

What kind of material do U think is needed BTW? Site structure or onsite SEO as a whole?

Well for the people that don’t know me, I am not career SEO. So moving forward lets start with what I read;

http://www.huomah.com/ setting our friendship aside, I find the content to be thought provoking

http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/ I don’t know who Jeffrey Smith is but the posts usually contain actionable items and noteable commentary, plus I really like the fact that he does not appear to engage in attacks on other SEOs

http://www.seo-theory.com/wordpress/ Michael is quite abrasive sounding at times but I think of him as a SEO referee of sort.

http://www.seobythesea.com/ I simply envy his brain power, a powerful mental form of communication

Believe it or not I like pictures for SEO because they dramatically cut down misinterpretations (a picture can say a thousand words)

Not too long ago I did something unheard of and traded a website for my ongoing bookkeeping services. Our bookkeeper has no idea what SEO was and I instantly felt your pain Dave. My approach was to draw and lay it out on paper so he could visualize, then I explained to him that it needed to contain content that was an embodiment of who he was, not his competitors. I also told him SEO was like my lemon tree, produces most of the time, but not 100%, and that his site will be an addition to his current portfolio.

Again just my personal opinion but onsite SEO with strong focus on site structure will give you the best edge in the beginning phases of your SEO strategy.

Here are some worthwhile thoughts from the top on learning SEO: http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/archives/2008/07/seo_training_whats_your_flavor.html

I need links

I wouldn't know where to start.

I started out in SEO as a link builder, when DMOZ was easy, directories meant something and reciprocal links were all the rage.

Now none of that counts

No one wants to link to an MFA site, so quality links are hard to get.

Spamming has had little effects

<biting tongue>

While I did post this one in the FF room and am including it in today's round up, that one does leave me slightly wanting.

For starters I noticed that links were dropped on a select few (the usual suspects). Not to be cynical, but considering BC sells training the boss might not have wanted to highlight specific courses. Of those 'highlighted' are SEMPO... which of course the boss (Bruce Clay) is on the board soooo.... http://www.sempo.org/about/governance/board_of_directors_and_officers/

Ok, so then I followed the link to more on training; http://www.bruceclay.com/newsletter/volume49/seotraining.html

Same gig, this time with a few industry pals thrown in for good measure.

In the post I put together there are even links to peeps that I don't personally like... but I felt leaving the bias out was taking the highroad and putting a comprehensive post together was more important.....

... so while Lisa's take isn't a total FAIL, I just didn't find it comprehensive....


As one can tell by looking at the responses of SEOs I talked to in the one on The Trail, there is no single method that is agreed upon... thus offering more options does seem to be the objective way of offering ways to learn SEO.... 

..my 2c on it at least... love Lisa and all, just found their approach curious.... (besides, she didn't mentiont he great eBooks in the space..tee hee)