How to Learn SEO – A Beginners guide

This post is intended to be used a resource for anyone who comes to me asking “What should I do to learn SEO?”

Why should I learn SEO? – I’d suggest any business owner, even those currently without websites, should learn what exactly search engine optimization (SEO) is to be able to discern exactly how, if at all, they can benefit from such efforts. In the same way that most budding entrepreneurs are introduced to direct mail, flyers and business card advertising, SEO should be similarly visible. For something that has the potential to greatly decrease customer acquisition costs over a relatively short period of time, we sure don’t hear SEO talked about much in the standard mainstream business channels.

How do most people go about learning SEO?- According to this post on SEOmoz: How Did You Learn SEO?: (note: users were allowed to choose more than 1 method)

• 54% learned through trial and error, testing, experimentation
• 49% learned through reading/participating in SEO forums
• 46.7% learned through reading/participating in SEO blogs
• 22.6% bought an seo ebook or guide
• 18.6% received training through a job
• 13.5% learned through a consultant or a firm
• 9.6% attended a search conference or seminar

I was a bit surprised to see that relatively few people learned SEO through “formal” means, such as coaching or consulting. However, that being said, I really do advocate the regular reading of SEO blogs and forums, a list of my favorites are below:

SEO Blogs:

• SEOmoz – Must read: Search Ranking Factors v3.0
• SEOBook – Must read: SEO Glossary
• StuntDubl – Must read: Balancing the Link Equation

More Notable SEO Blogs (for more advanced reading)

• Digerati Marketing
• BluehatSEO
• SEO by the Sea
• Science for SEO

SEO (and internet marketing) Forums:

• SEOChat
• High Rankings
• BlackHatWorld
• Warrior Forum

Also, a big, big, big resource for me and one I’d highly recommend is: The List of Google Patents by SEO by the Sea

After you get a good amount of reading/interacting under your belt, it’s time to take the plunge. I can’t really say much about this, everyone has their own methods for learning, but essentially you’ll want to set up a site and start optimizing and recording/analyzing your results. WordPress is an easy way to get going and I’d recommend installing Google Analytics.

Hopefully this will get you started in the right direction. Feel free to comment with any other resources you’ve found to be helpful and I”ll add them to the list!