SEO Scientist – Applying the scientific method to SEO

http://www.linkprincessblog.com/2009/09/interviewing-potential-link-builders/

A very nice article on the type of questions you should ask when interviewing a potential link builder. Actually it is more about types of personalities you may encounter when hiring a link builder and which one of those you should be looking for

http://www.interleado.com/blog/index.php/2009/09/15/flash-and-seo-getting-the-balance-right/

A nice review of the problems Flash-based site may encounter in search engines and possible search-engine friendly solutions. Can serve as a decent referrence to clients. One thing though, when writing SEO articles, you want to be as non-vague and precise with your words as possible: “But if you go with this option remember to submit only the HTML version to the search engine.” Really ? Submit the HTML version to the search engine ? Come on, you know better.

http://searchengineland.com/link-building-outreach-5-steps-to-maximize-the-value-of-every-opportunity-24687

I cannot understand why this article is called “5 steps…” and not “Hundreds of practical steps and …just print it out and learn it by heart already”. I love articles which not only give you a list of concrete things to do, but also open your mind to numerous additional possibilities to develop. A must read for every link builder out there. Includes a download link to a link building outreach worksheet.

http://blog.majesticseo.com/general/finding-links/

A nice overview on how to get the most out of Majestic SEO backlink reports. While being very useful, Majestic is not always the easiest tool to use, so any additional information on how to get the most out of it is great.

http://www.seoptimise.com/blog/2008/09/50-blog-post-ideas-for-business-blogging.html

A very nice nugget. After actually convincing a client that it is important to blog, there is always the stage where his writer (or your writer working for him) hits the solid wall with ideas on what to write on the blog. Here is a nice list that can be explored to get ideas for a business blog writing.

http://www.stephanspencer.com/search-engines/creating-a-buzz-worthy-blog-contest-in-7-easy-steps

Stephen Spencer alert! Outlining 7 steps to successful linkbaiting. If you ignore the overnightprints.com hype (which was really a great case study, but one article was enough 🙂 ) you will come up with some great starting points for your linkbaiting campaign.

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/examining-the-top-150-inlinked-posts-at-seomoz

A post bursting with information. Analysis of the most linked-to posts on SEOMoz. Compares different types of posts (list posts vs. non-list posts), post categories and whether there was an image or video included in the post. Very inspirational.

http://www.cornwallseo.com/search/2009/09/26/the-most-important-question-when-linkbuilding/

While not having specific tips on linkbuilding, this post tries to put the linkbuilder (and not just him) in a linkbuilding state of mind. See everything as a link building opportunity. One thing that I would like to add is when doing this, it is important not to forget about your inner moral compass that should be alerting you about those link opportunities that are better not taken.

http://www.blueglass.com/blog/link-building-through-relationships/

A good reminder of how relationships can be used to build links

http://markedmondson.posterous.com/wikipedia-seo-tactic-1

Some nice tips on using Wikipedia for your SEO purposes. Beware, not all of them are white-hattish 🙂

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/jump-to-information-you-want-right-from.html

This is cool. Google start showing links to specific sections of the page. This is something that the good people at Huomah blog have been discussing for quite a while now – Page Segmentation – and this is another way for Google to get even more granular with the ways the assign link juice and evaluate relevancy on a page level.

http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/five-reasons-your-keyword-tool-may-be-lying-to-you-and-ours-might-too.html

Pay attention – it is extremely important to doubt each and every one of the tools in your box, especially the keyword building ones. Here is the list of reasons why your keyword research tool is probably giving you wrong data. There is another thing worth paying attention to in this article and it is who wrote it. I will expand on that at the end of the list.

http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/020848.html

Google comes out with a new Adwords Keyword tool. Looks much nicer and much easier to use. Does it provide more information? Not so sure…

http://www.wordstream.com/information-architecture

An important part of on-page SEO – site architecture – does not bring maximal benefit if the structure does not reflect the keyword focus each section of the site is trying to target. This post explains how Wordstream free keyword analysis tool helps you perform this task. Again, notice where this post is being published and check out the end of this list for further discussion.

http://www.seodesignsolutions.com/blog/seo/using-htaccess-for-301-redirects-seo-and-more/

A very nice overview of how to use .htaccess file for your SEO needs. Bookmark for future reference.

http://www.davechaffey.com/blog/seo/seo-link-analysis-best-practice/

I usually don’t like putting interviews on this list, but this interview with Dixon Jones from Majestic SEO outlines some of the important features of Majestic, information that the current and future users can find useful.

http://www.seosmarty.com/practical-guide-to-finding-link-bait-inspiration/

You may have noticed already that I like these articles that provide ideas on how to do certain aspects of SEO, especially if they just scratch the surface without exposing specific tactics, thus rendering them useless pretty quickly. This is another one of those articles and (with the exception of listing Google Search as a potential linkbait idea finding resource) some of the ideas in there will make you go hmmm.