SEO Books and Other SEO Nuggets from SMX East 2009

It's been a great meeting at SMX East so far. For those of you who don't know what SMX East is, it's one of the premier conferences on search engine optimization.

It's clear that SEO tools and strategies continue to evolve, but the one key take-away continues to be the importance of doing the "right" thing and posting high quality content on your site. For many reasons, and in many ways, that's what will make the difference for a site over time.

Each presenter emphasized that in a somewhat different way, but that's the point. In the early days of SEO, "black hat" SEO experts (those driving up SEO rankings in ways Google, Yahoo, and MSN didn't really approve of) used a variety of not-so-kosher tools to improve page rank. Today, as enforced by the ever-improving algorithms of the major search engines, it's about posting high quality content and getting reputable sites to link back because the content is actually worth linking to.

The number of tools for keyword research continues to be mind-numbing. Each provides a somewhat different, but important perspective during the keyword analysis phase of SEO efforts. It often comes down to a bit of art, though, in translating the hard-core data to meaningful keyword strategies, though. The SEO experts continue to point to using good old human intellect to call the really important shots.

Some books cited that may be worth looking into include the following:

• Search Engine Optimization (ebook) plus the SEO toolbar
  
  
• Winning Results with Google AdWords, Second Edition
  
  
• Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Marketing Handbook: Low Cost Strategies for Attracting New Customers Using Google, MSN, Yahoo & Other Search Engines

Finally, Benu Huh, CEO of Cheezburger, gave a passionate talk about how he recreated himself and his companies in ways that positively impact people's "fun" each and every day…a heartwarming and inspiring story, especially for all those pet lovers who enjoy the Cheezburger user-generated content. And, he's implemented a proven and effective business model that works and now pays his bills! Let this be a reminder to us all to continue to push ourselves to keep things simple and produce products and services that make a positive difference to your prospects, users, and clients. Focus on helping them, not you.