Search Marketing Books
If you've been in the SEO/SEM game for a while, you know one of the few things you can count on is that things will change. Every marketing discipline changes to some degree, but search marketing seems to be in a constant state of flux.
The elusive nature of what works and what doesn't makes staying on top of best practices a lot more challenging. A great way to keep current is to read books on the subject, but search marketing books can get outdated pretty quickly.
Even so, there are a few that have been very useful that I'll list below. If you have others, please let me know.
Nitty-gritty of Writing for the Search Engines - Jill Whalen. Tried and true old school stuff.
Search Engine Marketing Kit - Dan Thies. For all you budding search marketers out there that want to start a SEO/SEM business, this book is for you. It covers many how-to's, but also forms, contracts, seo/sem project management templates, etc.
Search Engine Marketing Inc - Bill Hunt and Mike Moran. Excellent book on big site, big company SEO/SEM.
Winning Results with Google AdWords - Andrew Goodman. Note: there were significant changes in Google AdWords a few months ago that will not be refected in this book. However, it is still the best primer for AdWords. Check out Andrew's blog, Traffick.
SEO Book - Aaron Wall. Written informally, this ebook is updated periodically and a must read for newbies to SEO and a good refresher for old pros.
Call to Action - Brian & Jeffrey Eisenberg. Excellent resource on usability, increasing conversions and web analytics.
Recent books about the search engine industry, not on SEO/SEM per se:
The Search - John Battelle. Co-founding editor of Wired Magazine and the founder of the Industry Standard.
Google Power - Chris Sherman. Editor of Search Day, Search Engine Watch.
This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it is a great start. Other resources include forums, resource web sites, blogs, discussion threads, email newsletters, conferences and of course, search engine optimization experts.
I'll list other resources in future posts.
