Search Engine Optimization is a pretty saturated niche, with new blogs being dedicated for it almost on a daily basis. As always, every saturated (and also non-saturated) niche tend to have “top-dogs” and it’s nothing different here.

No matter how ill-equipped you are – when it comes to SEO; there’s countless number of free resources available for anyone willing to learn. Yet there are so many webmasters out there, that haven’t even heard about some of these sites – let alone their priceless resources.

So, let’s shed some light – shall we?

SearchEngineWatch, SEOmoz, SEO Book and SEO Chat are amongst the best of the best “SEO-Blogs”. Most of them have a team dedicated of writers, whom wholeheartedly share their expertise with us. They want us to learn, so why not take in everything we can – and decide for ourselves which SEO techniques we should engage in?

The advice they come up with is so well researched and laid out, you can start from the very beginning and end up “quite advanced” in a matter of weeks! All you need on your part; is the driving force to keep swallowing the “latest information.” This motivation is solely on your part because quite simply; no-one can force you to learn all this.

Before we get into the midst of things; I want to point out that I’ll break this into 4 different parts. Each part dedicated to one of the four blogs + their resources. So, if you think you have the motivation to get-going – let’s start shall we!

SearchEngineWatch

• 3 Keys to a Successful Web Presence

Mark Jackson, President and CEO of Vizion Interactive (a SEO company) wrote an article on 3 simple ways to have a successful web presence. It’s three very simple “matters” that effect your online web presence. Just like in the offline world; where your presence has a significant influence on the environment – your web presence is equally important.

Mr. Jackson explores the three fundamental rules; “Brand matters. Usability matters. Search Engine Optimization matters.” for identifying and then improving your web presence. The idea itself is pretty ordinary, but it’s the way Mr. Jackson goes about proving his point of view. It’s a must read for any serious blogger, who wants to make an impact on the blogosphere.

• SEO Link Building Fundamentals

Eric Enge takes the liberty to run us through the basic fundamentals behind Search Engine Optimization. The article is pretty old, but a very valuable read indeed. The article helped me to grasp the importance of link-building and hopefully you can get a better insight yourself.

I think, I remember this article so vividly because it gave me an ideal “definition” of the value of link building. I don’t personally use it, but it’s always on the back of my mind. The quote goes;

Link building is often a slow and arduous process that unfolds over a long period of time. But the rewards are large and it’s a fundamental requirement for marketing any Web site, regardless of how established it may be.

• Common Problems with 404 Error Pages

As we all know, nothing ticks us off more than having to search a website valiantly for a specific piece of content – and then only run into a horrible 404 error-page. Chris Bogg from SEW explains some very common problems that are found in 404 pages, that can convince potential clients/subscribers/commentators to immediately leave your site.

Recently, Alex wrote up a really good article on a few ways to creating an informative 404 error page. Armed with Chris Boggs practices + Alex’s unprecedented help-guide; you can make your 404 error page – just as appealing as your homepage.

• Rehabilitating SEO

If you spend some time in any webmasters’ forum (ie. DigitalPoint, SitePoint, Warrior etc.) you will see the countless number threads being created on a daily basis – that has no “community-value” what-so-ever. It’s always just garbage-questions of “When’s the next PageRank Update?“  or “Is it safe to buy links?” or “Does SEO still matter?” – it drives me nuts.

Luckily, I’m not the only one thats overly concerned about it. Kevin Ryan talked about the “SEO Rehab discussion” almost six months – but I still urge you to read it.  It really does help you bring back the true meaning of SEO.

There are heaps more resources over @ SearchEngineWatch but these are some of the articles that grabbed my attention over the last few months. Check it out and run through some of the later posts and you’ll find plenty of good information.

Stay tuned for Part 2 – where we explore the wonders of SEOmoz!

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