SEOBOOK: Search Engine Optimization is one of those informative texts that every person who is trying to make their website successful and well known should get their hands on and now. No, I’m not exaggerating. Aaron Matthew Wall, the author, is a testament to that. How do I know? When I type “seo” into Google. Wall’s site about SEOBOOK is on the first page of over twenty-five and a half million entries. Convinced yet? You should be! SEOBOOK is an accessible, relevant, and genuinely helpful text.

The book’s cover

This book is for anyone with a website, who wants to get out there and get noticed by search engines. And I suspect that is everyone with a website

The contents

SEOBOOK is an ebook, so it is accessible to everyone on the web. It’s also frequently updated by the author, which ensures it remains relevant. It’s about 220 pages, so it isn’t too intimidating size-wise. But it is jam packed full of useful info. The book starts off with some fairly general search engine information; like what it’s all about, what search engines are for and how they work, how to choose your domain name—generally easing you in to the complex world of how to get yourself out there on the web. Wall then starts getting a bit more specific about aspects of SEO, like writing for search engines, interacting with search engines productively, how to market, and how to figure out how well you’re doing. Wall states that while he markets the book as being about SEO, it really is more about conveying everything he knows about the web. And providing the reader with lists of valuable resources so they can do more research on their own.

Who’s this book for?

This book is for anyone with a website, who wants to get out there and get noticed by search engines. And I suspect that is everyone with a website. If you want the world to know about you, you need to know about SEO.

Relevance to free software

This book is, as I said above, for everyone. It isn’t actually geared towards free software or proprietary software. However, Wall offers this book free to those who are certified non profit, charities, churches, open software developers, or schools. So he is supportive of free software ventures, and that counts for a lot.

Pros

This book is well written and does what it sets out to do—it teaches you how to get your site discovered!

I think its best point is that, as stated above, its author is supportive of free software projects. This is a fantastic plus.

Cons

The only reason I think you might not like this book is that it’s EXPENSIVE, particularly for an ebook. Sure, it will probably help you get popular, and it does tell you how to make money off advertising, but a struggling little website just might not be able to afford it. All the same, if you can afford it I’m sure it won’t be long before you get your money back.

In short