Are you an SEO Warrior?

I've recently been sent O'Reilly's SEO Warrior book to review. However, due to my current work load, I've not been able to spend the time to fully read and digest the book to be able to review it. I've also been spending a fair amount of time reading up on SEO recently, so wanted to take a fresh approach to this book that would give it a fair chance.

I therefore asked James Cole, an eCommerce analyst looking to expand his knowledge in the Search Engine Optimisation arena, to read and review it (and in return I would publish it here and let him keep the book).

SEO Warrior sets out to be a comprehensive guide to all the facets of modern SEO, from which search engines matter and why, to Robots Exclusion Protocol and the minutia of XML sitemaps.

To do this it covers a lot of very in depth technical details about site design, construction and code which requires a very good grasp of these areas, but this knowledge is rewarded with plenty of examples and large appendices of scripts to show how to create what is being described.

However, rather than just dealing with the site technicalities of SEO, where SEO Warrior really sets itself apart is by taking a much wider view of the subject. It does this by including chapters on best practice from the first realisation of the need for a site, long before any code is written (and also long after, as it heavily emphasises the long term benefits of good SEO). Covering themes like domain name and hosting options, site structuring, keyword research, competitor analysis, guidelines for content, search engine spam and the latest SEO issues gives the reader an idea of the bigger picture and where their site can fit into it.

So whilst it has fairly high prerequisites to get the most out of its depth, it’s the breadth of topics covered that makes SEO Warrior an invaluable resource for anyone looking to improve their understanding of what can be an arcane subject at times.

Thanks James