Tim Kloos - February 24th, 2015
The world of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an interesting place. It's a dynamic world that changes as technology changes. It's also a world that often contains a lot of mystery and seemingly promise. There are grand visions of creating a domain name and having it show up in the #1 spot in the search engines. Kent's book takes you into this world and tries to remove some of the mystery and give you a realistic view of what is possible.
In case you haven't heard, Search Engine Optimization is the optimization of a website (and it's pages) to be search engine friendly. It also means free - as in, not paid advertising. Of course, there are expenses such as domain name, hosting, and web design/development, but SEO is not traditional web PPC (pay-per-click) advertising. Many website owners are interested in such an idea and rightfully so, but where can they turn for legit advice?
I've been working with SEO strategies for about 7 years now. When I first picked up Kent's book, I thought this book would provide what I needed to make all of my SEO dreams come true. Unfortunately, that's not what happened - but perhaps my expectations were too high. After all, Peter Kent does mention how some website owners are able to get to the #1 spot for the search terms they wanted. Although my SEO dreams didn't match reality, Kent did lay out why sometimes SEO dreams wouldn't work out, and offered suggestions for how best to move forward even in those situations.
Kent's book lays out a good framework for understanding the what's and why's of SEO. This is helpful not only for the short term, but in the long haul. Especially useful is his explanation of how search engines look at webpages and websites.
One of the downsides of Kent's book is that it points you to a list of sites that will give you a link to your site. This list is somewhat helpful, but has not been kept up and so some of the sites have changed or apparently no longer exist. Other sites simply aren't worth the time of trying to get a free listing. Still, it's not an absolutely terrible resource, it just has a few shortcomings.
Although Kent's book may not give you the search engine ranking you always wanted, it will provide you with a solid understanding of what does and doesn't make a difference in the SEO world. I would recommend this for anyone interested in SEO as it has been a resource I have relied on time and again through the years - and have seen pretty good results.