Forum Moderators: phranque
I've just been handed the task of seo for some of our companies sites.
I have played with sumbit wolf & vse be found & been dispointed with the results......so I need to know where I can find good training & resources for seo - now, now, now!
Is there a good course out there? snipped url
any help very much appreciated!
PS I do NOT work for the above web site & am genuinely just seeking advice!
[edited by: engine at 3:53 pm (utc) on June 5, 2002]
I think the best training you could have is right here in these forums, and its FREE (but you could make a donation). Read as much as you can here and you will be up to speed in no time.
BTW I hate programs like submit wolf. They are not worth the money in MHO. They can also get you into trouble with the search engines.
welcome to webmasterworld, you'll get the latest info and optimization techniques on the web, from web design and structure, to keyword loading and content management, to linking strategies, with a cherry on top.
will be back in a moment, will hunt down some good threads that have kicked off here on webmasterworld, about your problem.
I must say to the credit of WebMasterWorld and all the regular members that this is the best online resource out there for any web related issue!
SEO is a technique of using web based tools. And the combined membership of WMW takes that "and turns it to an art form".
Of particular note: if your stumped and it's grunch time! Post a concise message here for your problem (no URL's though)- and an army of talented and very wise individuals (many who have learned the hard way) will allow you the insight to move forward and pretty much 24/7/365.
Rod
User Interfaces: Building and Testing a Site From the User's Perspective [webmasterworld.com]
Web Page Design Tips & Traps: Handy Dandy Hints to Ensure Good Results. [webmasterworld.com]
What exactly is quality content? need some help here [webmasterworld.com]
Linking Strategies [webmasterworld.com]
here a few threads to read. Some excellant idea's to get you started.
also check out the new forum here at webmasterworld.
New to Web Development: looks like its going to be very helpful, wish it was here when i first got started. [webmasterworld.com]
also you could try Search Engine World [searchengineworld.com] covers the basics and is very useful regarding site structure and content theme's. Which search engines are which, and whether they are directories or crawlers, which of the feeds each other and so.
Have Fun, no doubt run into you.
I'm going to point you to the Welcome to Webmaster World [webmasterworld.com] letter. I hope this helps you get to know the board because you'll save a lot of time if you are familiar with this site, before you jump in.
As has already been suggested, you couldn’t ask for a better place to start learning because that’s what we’re all about. You’ll find what goes around comes around. There will probably come a time where you begin to give back some of what you’ve been given.
Have fun!
basically I'm being asked questions by internal clients to which i don't have answers - I need to get up to speed quickly & have a very broad knowledge of all the issues.
resources of that type are soon out of date seo is a fluid experience.
>>>>I need to get up to speed quickly & have a very broad knowledge of all the issues.
set realistic goals!!!!
- i've found what i've picked up here to be mostly sound, but nothing is gospel truth, also of course theory and practice are two different things.
IMO one of the most important things is to relay realistic goals to your (internal) clients.
The above thread is a step by step guide to SEO (Google specifically) by Brett Tabke, and is a must read that should get you started.
A big disadvantage of a "course" is getting one person's opinion, which may or may not be correct. There is no way all that needs to be known can be covered in a crash course, and that assumes the person teaching it would be an expert in all aspects. It's an art, not a science, and too much is site dependent. Theory is one thing, but the practical application has so many variables it just plain takes experience to learn a good amount - and what happens here at WmW from steady reading is that a certain amount is absorbed by osmosis.
There are only a few people whose opinion I'd take knowing they're probably right on most everything, and they're right here at this board. Even then, different people have different specialties.
dommmm, every single issue you mentioned is fully covered here at the board.
>seo & frames
Very difficult, requiring extra expertise, certainly not a task for a beginner. When sites are taken out of frames and turned into flat sites rankings generally improve dramatically.
>doorways
Internal pages on a site should all act as an entry point for traffic; they should each have viable content that can stand on its own and be optimized for a given keyword phrase. The doorway pages that are created by software out there are a thing of the past.
>sei & flash
Poison.
If a company insists on using flash for a site they should hire a good cloaker to do externally hosted doorway pages. It's best left to "experts" in that field, and they're probably the best SEOs around. But it's not for beginners and it's certainly not anything that can be learned in a class.
>link popularity
Right - for FAST. And Teoma/Ask - themed, and you can't learn that in a class. Besides, Brett is the Apostle of Themes. And chasing after link pop has caused a lot of good people to get penalized by Google for trying a quick fix to beat the system.
Link popularity is often a myth perpetrated by goniffs trying to sell worthless SEO programs claiming that submitting to thousands and doing your submissions will get you traffic. Hogwash. One charges $150 a month (and gets it) and has a penalized PR0 site.
Most comes from Google now, and they do not use link popularity. They use Page Rank - a whole different concept. You cannot learn about Page Rank in a quick, easy lesson. It's knowing what it is, how to achieve it through inbound links and properly structuring a site, and a myriad of details that come with time, experience and lots of reading - mostly here and by studying the Google SERPs.
>robots & spiders
Unless the teacher is a cloaker (which I seriously doubt), they won't know a fraction of what they need to know. It's a piece of cake to find out the names of the crawlers for the major search engines (and which to ban) and all that info is here. But in depth knowledge is not necessary for the average person.
>pay engines
No substitute for experience, no short-cuts. The strategizing could not be taught in a class. You do AdWords and Overture for PPC and learn on the job, and ask questions here. You do a pay-for-inclusion page each for Teoma/Ask and Inktomi and constantly tweak the pages and study right at the search engines to find out what works.
>what exactly is inktomi
A search engine whose database is used by ISP's, portals, etc., who put their own little twist on the algo.
>check rankings
There is software, but checking by hand and examining the SERPs to see what is doing well and what isn't is the most educational way, and the way to long term success. It'll gain you more than 10 courses.
>....you know what I mean - the whole schbang!
A dentist can't learn the whole shebang to fix your teeth in a few months, neither can SEO be learned in a few months with weekly classes.
>I have been looking on seworld which is great, thanks for that, but I was just wondering if anybody knew of a more structured collection of info
There is none better that Brett_Tabke (though a few mods - and members - here run a close second) and he structured the organization of the forums here at the board, which are exactly the structure that's needed, even though it may not be evident.
One of our esteemed, beloved members used to call WmW the University of Search Engine Optimization and that's exactly what it is. The people who actually teach here don't call themselves that, but IMHO some are qualified Professors of SEO.
