B2B Marketing Blog, Web 2.0 Social Media, Business Blogging Tools, Micromarkets and Interactive PR

Where can you find the best SEO tools and resources (I mean, other than here)? Looking for a concise explanation of the different types of redirects? What are some of the best tools and techniques for competitive SEO research? Which commonly-held beliefs about Google's algorithm are true, and which are myths? What information should you include in a killer SEO proposal—and what language should you avoid?

Find all of this and more here in another group of the best articles and blog posts from the last year on the practice of SEO.

The Internet Marketing Handbook by SEOmoz

In one of the best lists of SEO resources ever—and I do not say that lightly—Danny Dover provides links to and short summaries of "almost 100 tools and learning resource that help to master Internet Marketing," from tools for link building and keyword research to a wide range of learning resources and tools for social media marketing. Bookmark this page and keep it near the top of your list. Another great post from Danny is The Beginner's Checklist for Learning SEO, a step-by-step guide to creating a well-optimized website.

Google's SEO Starter Guide by the Google Webmaster Central Blog

Google made quite a splash when it published this guide last November. They not only provided practical, helpful information for SEO's trying to optimize for dominant search engine but legitimized the entire practice as well. In this post, Brandon Falls briefly explains the purpose and content of the guide.

Redirects for SEOs by Search Engine People

Shannon Hutcheson does an excellent job of dissecting why redirects are important and the relative value of different types of redirects. A bit more instructional information about server-side redirects and using .htaccess for redirects—or links to such info—would have been a nice touch, but this is an helpful post nonetheless.

How to Find SEO Competitor Keywords, Social Media & Backlinks by Search Engine Journal

Frequent "best of" contributor Ann Smarty provides tools and techniques for analyzing your competitors' keywords, backlinks and social media presence, noting that these tasks are critical because "promoting a site without proper competition research means to promote it blind (and) if you focus on finding what your competitor is doing profoundly wrong, you have good chances to get ahead of him."

Bare Lying Google Myths by HomeBiz Resource

Louis Liem summarizes the Q&A from a Google webmaster event by dispelling a number of common myths about SEO and how Google ranks websites. Among the myths flayed here: duplicate content isn't that big of a deal, although webmasters should "make it easy for us (Google) to find the preferred version;" XML sitemaps harm your rankings (quite the opposite!); and PageRank is everything (no, Google uses this, but it's only one of more than 200 factors that determine where your pages will show up in searches for specific search terms).

The Art Of The SEO Proposal by SEO Book

Peter Da Vanzo offers an outstanding primer on preparing SEO proposals, from really understanding the client's world and using tools like Google Traffic Estimator to show the value of search traffic to determining if there's a suitable fit between you and the client.

Preparing the Ultimate SEO Proposal by SEO Today

An excellent follow-up to Peter's post above is this one from Eric Lander, in which he outlines how to draft an ideal SEO proposal that both educates and "sells" the client. Eric contents that a proposal is not to be confused with an estimate; in his words, "A proposal is a document that outlines the goals of a project, states the objective, target audience, assignment of responsibilities, and so on. In the ideal situation, offer some 'sell' information as well – or credentials that justify your staff and organizations legitimacy." An estimate is a preview of the expected costs of the project—which can be affected by how well your initial proposal is crafted.

Translating the Language of Search by ClickZ

Julie Batten translates "SEO speak," providing definitions for more than a dozen commonly used terms / jargon in search marketing. Experienced SEOs know what these terms mean of course, but it's helpful to keep in mind when talking to clients or prospects, particularly when drafting a proposal (see above), that most other people don't. In many communications, it's best to avoid jargon or at least define it.

Best of 2008: SEO Guidance, Part 1
Best of 2008: Interactive PR, Part 1
Best of 2008: SEO Tools, Part 1
Best of 2008: Search Engine Marketing
Best of 2008: Web Analytics
Best of 2008: Email Marketing Tips
Best of 2008: SEO Keyword Tips & Tools
Best of 2008: Sales & Marketing Copywriting
Best of 2008: SEO Link Building
Best of 2008: Website Design
Best of 2008: WordPress Tools and Tips
Best of 2008: Web & SEO Copywriting
Best of 2008: SEO Guidance, Part 2
Best of 2008: Social Media Optimization, Part 1
Best of 2008: AdWords Tips and Tactics, Part 1
Best of 2008: SEO Tools, Part 2
Best of 2008: SEM Landing Pages
Best of 2008: Blogging for Business, Part 1
Best of 2008: Interactive PR, Part 2
Best of 2008: SEO Guidance, Part 3
Best of 2008: Social Media Optimization, Part 2
Best of 2008: AdWords Tips and Tactics, Part 2
Best of 2008: Strategy and Branding, Part 1
Best of 2008: Cool Web Tools, Part 1
Best of 2008: Blogging for Business, Part 2
Best of 2008: Random but Interesting, Part 1

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