Search Engine Optimization Secrets: Do What You Never Thought Possible with SEO

Chapter 1. Understanding Search Engine Optimization

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Learning how search engines see websites

• Taking a look at popularity in SEO

• Considering the role of relevancy in SEO

At Google, search engineers talk about "80-20" problems.

They are describing situations where the last 20 percent of the problem is 80 percent of the work. Learning SEO is one of these problems. Eighty percent of the knowledge SEOs need is available online for free. Unfortunately, the remaining 20 percent takes the majority of the time and energy to find and understand. My goal with this book is to solve this problem by making the last 20 percent as easy to get as the first 80 percent. Though I don't think I will be able to cover the entire 20 percent (some of it comes from years of practice), I am going to write as much actionable advanced material as humanly possible.

This book is for those who already know the basics of SEO and are looking to take their skills to the next level. Before diving in, try reading the following list:

• robots.txt

• sitemap

• nofollow

• 301 redirect

• canonicalization

If you are not sure what any of the items in this list are, you should go over to the nearest computer and read the article "The Beginner's Guide to SEO" at

http://www.seomoz.org/article/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization

This free article can teach you everything you need to know to use this book to its fullest. Done with that? Great, now we can begin.

THE SECRETS OF POPULARITY

Once upon a time there were two nerds at ...