Search engine optimization is, perhaps, one of the most important considerations when planning a new website or a new web application. And yet, it is often perplexing to both web developers and marketers.
A new book from four of the industry’s best practitioners provides what may be the most SEO reference yet. But the text, which has been in print little more than two months, already demonstrates that SEO is a fast-moving and ever-changing art form.
SEO Best Practices
The Art of SEO is a starting point for making web content visible to two kinds of users: humans and search engine spiders. It describes in detail the basic theories of how search engines find, index, and rank web content; explains how to plan, execute, and track strategic SEO campaigns; and provides enough specific information about implementing SEO tactics to make nearly any reader an SEO success—assuming the reader’s web content is actually relevant and informative. And for all of these reasons, The Art of SEO is essential reading for web developers and designers concerned with how their websites or applications perform on search engine results pages (SERPs).
The book is long on examples and best practices seemingly gleaned from the authors’ experiences and previously written works, which make it particularly valuable since the authors are none less than Eric Enge, Rand Fishkin, Stephan Spencer, and Jessie Stricchiola. As way of introduction, Enge is the president of Stone Temple Consulting, a web marketing firm. Rand Fishkin, who may be the industry’s top SEO celebrity, is co-founder and CEO of SEOmoz, an educational hub for search marketers. Stephan Spencer is president and CEO of Netconcepts and a regular contributor to our sister site, Practical Ecommerce, where he has published more than 50 SEO-related articles. Jessie Stricchiola is the founder of Alchemist Media, Inc.
A Case for SEO in Every Project
In addition to providing ample information about the practice of SEO, the text also makes an excellent argument for the art. This extra explanation of the value of SEO is important, since too often SEO’s reputation outside of the professional web community is not necessarily good. Who, for example, hasn’t gotten a spam email promising SEO magic, like being on the first page of a Google SERP tomorrow? These scam-like SEO promises have, to some extent, sullied the SEO art form’s reputation, and it was both gratifying and important that the authors of The Art of SEO took the time to argue for their field.
“Search has penetrated the very fabric of global society. The way people work, play, shop, research, and interact has changed forever. Organizations of all kinds (businesses and charities), as well as individuals, need to have a presence on the web—and they need search engines to bring them traffic,” the authors wrote.
Like Any Art Form, It Changes
Overall, I have a very positive impression of The Art of SEO, but it did remind me how, like trends and fashions in other art forms, SEO changes frequently. A best practice that was tried and true in 2008 may be passé in 2009. Specifically, this point was made clear when the book discussed how search engine spiders find and index content in Adobe Flash player or other rich Internet applications.
For example, on page 269, the authors write, “Google has indicated that it doesn’t execute external JavaScript calls (which many Flash-based sites use) or index the content from external files called by Flash (which, again, a lot of Flash sites rely on). These limitations could severely impact what a visitor can see versus what Googlebot can index.”
While this passage was almost certainly factually accurate when it was originally written, it was no longer true when the book was published in October 2009, since Google indicated in a blog post on June 18, 2009 that it could index external files called by a SWF, a Flash file.
This example demonstrates why writing a book like The Art of SEO is so difficult, and indicates that while the text does provide seminal information and lays the foundation for mastering SEO, it is important to stay informed about changes to the art and never assume that it is static.
Summing Up
The Art of SEO is an excellent book that I plan to keep within reach. It is worth reading cover to cover. I am a firm believer that our first goal as ecommerce web developers must be to create an excellent user experience that both provides site visitors with excellent content and provides that content in a usable way. But a close second is to ensure that search engines, which often act as a web traffic conduit, also have easy and uninterrupted access to our content.
