This is the end of my second week of my internship.  Things have been relatively low-key in the SEO corner.  Everett, the guy who is mentoring my internship, just got back into the office this morning and is a bit busy playing catch-up.  I have been reading a bunch of SEO resources online, and learning a lot of cool stuff.  One of the best resources I’ve found so far is Search Engine Watch.  They have a bunch of really useful information and it is updated with new content very frequently.

I also got a big book of past patent applications for search related technology.  One of them is Google’s patent on Address Geocoding, that was filed on September 22, 2003 (at that time I was just getting my feet wet in PHP).  It goes through and describes a method of turning your address into geo-coordinates.

A geocoding component generates geographic coordinate information, such as latitude and longitude values, for postal addresses.

It describes a method of determining if a Web document has geographic significance, and plots a geographical location based on that information.  It gets pretty specific about what the tool will do, how it filters results and finds the most relevant results based on user input, and things like that.

Not the most wild party I’ve ever been to, but based on the success of Google Maps and google Earth, it really feels like I’m holding a little bit of history.

But I digress…

Another tool in the SEO box, that I’m learning how to create, is a Competitive Analysis.  It’s basically looking at sites that are competing with your client’s, and trying to determine what it is that is causing them to rank higher.

I have done some research, and I’ve found a bunch of information on the subject.  I found a lot of information, including this article on Web Pro News that despite being a year and a half old, seemed to have a lot of really great stuff in it.  If you pick articles out of a Google search, you’ll see that many articles give a lot of the same information.  That’s awesome, because it lets me know just what to look for, thereby making my job a lot easier.

Some of the things that a SEO will look for are:

• The age of a domain.
  Older domains have more search engine credibility.  I learned this one in the four years I spent in the domain industry.  If you are purchasing a domain for a new project, it’s good to take one that has been around for a few years.  In some cases a resale domain may already have inbound links, which is quite valuable right out of the gate.
• Number of indexed pages.
  If a competing company’s Web site has 1000+ relevant, content heavy pages, they will typically rank higher then a smaller site.  If your client’s site is 20 pages, and their competitor’s is 1000 pages, keyword competition might be a lost cause.
• Content.
  The phrase I keep running into ad nauseam is “Content is King.”  I’m beginning to think there is something to that.  One of the things I have seen a lot of are ethical arguments relating to SEO.  The importance of quality content is paramount among reputable SEO articles I have read.  The better, and more unique your content is, the nicer you look.
• Site architecture.
  Good navigation helps spiders crawl your competitor’s site more easily.  Easy to follow paths, and links to other content within their site, and making the best content the easiest to access are methods that causes your client’s competitors to rank higher.
• Inbound Links.
  Link building is something that has been buzzed into my ear more then one time.  Through my surfings, it appears that link building can be a touchy subject among the SEO community.  Through what I have read, I have learned that link building can be tedious, busy work, and in some cases a necessary evil that must be trudged through.  There is a little about outsourcing link building to India, and paying per link.  If SEO is PR, then outsourcing link building can’t be a good idea.  Appropriate link building seems to be about networking and cooperation among businesses.

The things I have learned here so far have been primarily based on inbound links.  I am guessing that link building is going to be learning specifically during my time here.  It does seem quite time consuming, but seems to be one of the more important tools in quality, ethical SEO.

This is in no way an exhaustive list.  These are just a few key points that I have seen, and felt were important.  If you have more information on the subject, please feel free to add to this list.

Later I plan to address Competitive Analysis and Link Building processes in more of a how-to format.  I think there’s more information about all that before all that though.