Recommended reading: search engines
101 Ways to Promote your Web Site
Although a case of over-promising and under-delivering, this book is still a worthwhile purchase. It provides lots of ways to promote your Web site (not 101, though, more like 50) - many of which you may already be aware of. That said, for newcomers to the Web it's a great place to start, and for more seasoned hands it provides a good checklist of promotional activities. It's not just about search engines, but takes a more rounded approach to Web site promotion. Don't wait passively for visitors to come to your Web site: find ways to drive them in. A good place to start.
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Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure
A bit of fun - and why not? A Googlewack is a rare thing: a combination of at least two word for which there is only one search result in Google. Gorman takes off around the world, in search of meeting the people behind an elusive 10 Googlewhacks. This involves him tracking down the developers of some pretty obscure Web sites - and, as you can imagine, these people are pretty unique to say the least. An entertaining read which won't in any way contribute to your rankings on Google. But what the heck?
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Google Hacks
Not tricks for pushing your site up the Google rankings, but a real insight into the power behind Google's technology. Most of us trundle along to Google and type in a keyword or two. But Google is capable of so much more. Here's some examples. You can use the command 'daterange' as part of your search to narrow search results down to fresher (or older) content. Did you know that Google has a ten-word limit on a query - and how to get around this? And that you can use Google as a calculator or unit converter? Or just to look up phone numbers? Highly recommended, but really for geeks and developers only - limited value otherwise.
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Search Engine Optimization for Dummies
Don't be ashamed! If you know little about search engines and want to improve the ranking of your site, this book is a good place to start. OK, it doesn't have the street-cred of some of the more authoritative-looking titles, but it's got plenty of information to get you started. The book covers creating search engine-friendly Web pages, registering sites with the main search engines and directories, using third-party registration software and services, monitoring Web site traffic, using pay-per-click advertising on search engines and developing reciprocal links to boost your rankings. You could do a lot worse.
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Search Engine Positioning
A weighty tome and a good one too. Possibly one of the most authoritative books on the subject, this volume suffers from one thing: search engine technology progresses faster than publication schedules. While most of the content is terrific and sensible, some has been overtaken by time (for example, the statement that search engines don't properly index database-driven sites with & and ? operators in the URL is far less true these days). So, like most books on the subject, make sure you balance your input with that from another source. Having said all that, an essential shelf-filler for the search engine manipulator.
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Search Engine Visibility
Possibly our favourite search engine book. No fluff, clear and concise, easy to read - what more could you want? Very readable, very practical and mostly sensible - focusing on getting better search-engine results by building pages that are more relevant to search engines; pages that are inherently more 'searchable', rather than adopting cheats and tricks. It also goes into detail for Web page technologies that are not search engine friendly (like frames and drop-down menus) as well as focusing on essential items needed to boost your viability. Highly recommended.
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