At a recent talk I gave to the Lake Superior Ad Club, I was asked to recommend some good books on SEO. The first book that came to mind is O’Reilly’s Website Optimization, which is very recently published and has a great section on search engine optimization. We contributed chapters on paid search, and are honsetly impressed by the team of authors Andy King was able to pull together for this book. The work on SEO is no exception. However, not wanting to sound self-serving, I promised to do some research and supply more suggestions.

Happily, one of the suggestions is free and available online – Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide. As our own SEO wizard and professional sceptic, Steve Loszewski, describes it: “Here’s a document from Google that’s OK as an introduction (but completely inadequate when it comes to link building, site architecture, and anything specialized).” While this guide won’t tell you *everything* you need to know about SEO, there’s no better place to get the scoop on search engine optimization than from “the horses’s mouth.”

For “the rest of the story”, check out SEO Book. It’s a website you can subscribe to for $100 per month, and it covers more advanced search engine optimization topics you won’t find in the starter guide. I don’t believe there’s a minimum subscription, so just read fast. (*wink*)

The only other “real” book on our list is the classic Search Engine Visibility by Shari Thurow. It was written “way” back in 2003, so there’s nothing new here, but it’s still a good primer if you really want to sit down with a book all about SEO. Actually, my guess is that the more recent equivalent to this book is Search Engine Optimization: An Hour A Day, I just haven’t read it yet. If you have, please let us know how you think it rates as an SEO getting started guide.

Tags: AdClubs, Search Engine Marketing, SEO, SEO Recommended Reading, Website Optimization Books