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I've started to seriously promote my site in the last few weeks and managed to get a few reciprocal links, I'm listed in (most of) the major engines and I have a list of things to do to optimize my pages for my keywords.
The problem is, during this promotion run, I've looked at hundreds of different SEO/Promotion/Marketing sites and they all seem to give at least one little tip that the others don't. Many of these tips contradict the others, so this leads to confusion as to whether or not putting the tip into action will get my site banned or penalised.
My question is this. Is there a DEFINITIVE search engine optimization/promotion guide or site that covers the basics, as well as some slightly more advanced things.
Oh, and just a quick plug for Robin Nobles/Kerri-Leigh Grady's book "Web Site Analysis and Reporting". I got it a couple of weeks ago and it is absolutely fantastic. Wish there was an up to date version available though! :)
Thank you all in advance,
...confusion as to whether or not putting the tip into action will get my site banned or penalised
And the confusion gets compounded because some sites seem to get away with "breaking the rules". That is, some tricks work, at least for a while. There's no such thing as "this will automatically cause you trouble" in a lot of cases.
But before you try anything that seems at all "dicey" the question to ask is can you afford to throw away the domain. In other words, is this domain name disposable and easily replacable if you do run into trouble? Or is it your brand name, your trademark, and the already recognized name of your business?
Many SEO tricks get tried on throw-away domains. If they work, and while they work, they generate extra traffic. If the domain gets thrown out of this or that engine, the company still has many more waiting.
Best rule of thumb for a non-disposable domain is to do what is best and most straightforward for your visitors (human and spider) but nothing that gets into tricks that humans won't see.
Many search engines have posted lists about what they don't want. Unless you are working with a disposable domain name, follow those rules -- even if the serach engines don't seem to catch every site that crosses the line right now.
It's also amazing what a difference time alone can make. Longevity on the web has it's rewards, just on its own without extra techniques and tricks.
If you haven't seen it yet, check out Brett's post Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone [webmasterworld.com]. Nothing there will get you into hot water, but it sure will bring success.
Any particular author may have had a technique that worked for them for a season and highly recommend others use it. However, that very thing may be incurring a ban or penalty on sites a month or so after publication, and unfortunately, if it's entry-level people reading the advice they could be putting their sites and the sites of their clients in jeopardy.
The site of a friend, highly acclaimed and widely quoted as being an authoritative source of SEO information, ended up with a section reprinted on a high-profile site (with a link back) and there was some outdated information included, very obvious to people who keep up. When he was notified of the info gap he re-did his whole site to bring it completely up to date and added much material. There's nothing that could be considered dangerous there, but within no time the updated pages already needed another update.
Certain basics stay static, but other things are too dynamic in nature to safely follow verbatim.
