Review by Adele Drake for Get to the Top on Google: Tips and Techniques to Get Your Site to the Top of the Search Engine Rankings — and Stay There
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I wanted to use the structured approach to SEO presented in this book but it was mainly a waste of my time. The system is based on the frequency of searchs for your keywords but can not be used since the suggested tools are no longer available and/or based on very old data. SEO changes rapidly and I was hoping this recently published book would be more topical. Frequent plugs for his website are a distraction and the book is unnecessarily jargon heavy. It did get me to follow through on some things so I’m giving it 2 stars.

Review by Craig Matteson for Get to the Top on Google: Tips and Techniques to Get Your Site to the Top of the Search Engine Rankings — and Stay There
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I love how new technologies also breed experts to help us understand and guide us through their complexities. David Viney calls himself “The SEO Expert”. So, what is SEO? It is Search Engine Optimization. That is, how can your company make the best use of marketing to your customers using search engines, in this case Google. Since 84% of all people doing searches on the web never get past the second page of search results, it makes sense to do what you can to get your web pages as close to the top as possible.

Viney is very clear about the work involved and the kinds of businesses that do best in these efforts. He provides a seven step process to help you optimize the trade-offs you face in trying to get seen in the Google search results pages.

The first step is to get the right words and phrases. But for whom? You have to first decide what you can best sell and provide over the web and who those customers are. It isn’t everything to everyone. He provides the D-A-D process where you make a list (a long list) of keywords and keyphrases. This is supposed to be a laundry list of as many possible keywords and phrases that you can think of. Then you winnow them down to the very best and most relevant items on that list, and put them in your pages in the right way.

The second step takes you through the process Google uses to discover and rank your pages (a very cursory explanation) and how you need to design and arrange your web pages to “court the crawl” of Googlebot. Step 3 is about priming your pages and discusses the difference between Google’s main and supplemental indexes and how to tell which of your pages is in which index. Viney also warns you off certain popular practices that may well get you penalized by Google.

Step 4 is all about developing high quality links using content, relationships with web content providers, and avoiding penalties from developing too many cheap links too quickly. The fifth step examines the trade-offs of paid advertising on Google, its dangers, benefits, and when it is likely to be more effective for you. I like Viney’s honesty about the need for experienced and high quality web copywriters. You can waste a lot of money with the wrong ads that attract lots of non-customers. You also need to have great web designs for the customers you attract to land on and will help convert them from someone browsing to the web into purchasing customers.

Step 6 talks about getting your site ready today for the mapping and geographic technologies that are rising and will likely be part of everyone’s web experience soon. Step 7 talks about the tools Google and others provide to help you track and analyze your web traffic.

A useful book that doesn’t require you to be very technical. However you must be able to be somewhat familiar with the argot and jargon of the web to get through this stuff.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

Review by Mark Ruzomberka for Get to the Top on Google: Tips and Techniques to Get Your Site to the Top of the Search Engine Rankings — and Stay There
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I have to admit I had another SEO book in my hands at the bookstore and picked this one because the cover mimicked Google’s homepage logo so well. I figured the majority of my clicks would come from Google so a book that resembled their homepage design was probably a good bet. I thought the author surely had to be vetted by Google to be allowed to use their Logo. I was wrong. Also the fact the author appears to be from the UK based on his site address is a bit of a concern for me as a US marketer.

I will admit there is useful content here, but I was just expecting more from someone who touts themselves as “The SEO expert”. Maybe the truth is that SEO is really not that hard. Then again as with many things in life they are not that hard but just take dedication, because their are no shortcuts in SEO.

I do agree with his first tip for success however, that you should “Find a great niche and great content”. I’d think twice before making this my first SEO book, but it is probably worth skimming through.