last one, i promise

[dad7more]

i find it interesting that if i want to learn about making websites, html, css, javascript, ajax, php and on and on, there is tons of information on the web and a person can learn just about anything they want.

when it comes to SEO however, it seems to me like it's very hard to learn exactly how it's done. i mean there are tons of seo companies out there that charge good money to place your website on the first page of google so they are obviously doing something that is effective, but it seems extremely difficult for find out exactly what they do.

so in essence, if a person wants to become a web designer or developer, there are tons of places where they can go and become qualified. but where does a person go to become an seo expert?

[PBSWebDesign]

I know its a booming section right now. Web crawlers i know are used to help page rankings or at least used to be. Very well written meta tags and keywords are also important for search engines to bump your website up there. I dont know much more than that though as i have not really looked into doing it.

[neon84]

Hi, if you are looking for making money then you can start work as a freelancer. Minifreelance (http://www.minifreelance.com/) provides opportunity to do work from home. You do not have to be expert; you can start work with basic knowledge. There are typical payments include $1 for a 3 minutes sign up and making a small post. Hope this will work out for you.

[joe12joe]

If you want to learn SEO, start from the basics.You must not learn how to get a website on the top page. You cannot clear 2nd grade without learning in 1st grade. You must understand the concept of SEO and try to find out the reason behind it. If it would start to make sense to you, you can do anything by using your own brain and even if you will look for guidance at that time like how to get a page on Google top ranking, it would be way more understanding for you.

[LiveCity]

SEO is a profession. Nothing less.
Our company employs SEO professionals, some of them are self-taught while others went to courses. To learn SEO, as with any other profession, be ready to invest much time. There are many blogs, such as SEOmoz, that teach you the basics. Other than that - you can try reading articles and papers regarding this field.

The best practice though is to actually do it. Start a website and set yourself a goal to promote it in some non-competitive field. You will learn a great deal by actually engaging in work.

[Jayres]

I can totally understand dad7more on this matter. But I think he is doing sort of.. ok. I mean, he is in this forum posting. There are lots and lots of information available and ready online. It takes effort on your part, though. You have to constantly search and try; ask lots of questions. I also learned a lot by reading stuff on SEOmoz. Gotta go and watch whiteboard friday.

[svidgen]

SEO isn't nearly as esoteric or mysterious as you might think. Think of SEO as having two components: the art of SEO and the "mechanics" of SEO. The mechanics are simple. Refer to Google's SEO pages (http://www.svidgen.com/browse_bookmarks?tags=seo,google&q=&recent=1) and follow the recommendations. That's it ... easy.

I call following Google's recommendations "the mechanics" because you're just implementing simple rules to improve Google's ability to precisely categorize your content: things like using ALT and TITLE attributes, using H* tags and LISTS when its appropriate, using META tags, and avoiding SPAMMY content (avoid using "keywords" unnecessarily), update your content regularly, and exchange links with other relavant and high quality sites. These rules have never been secret, hidden, esoteric things -- they're obvious, public, and simple.

The art of SEO is more difficult, but it's still simple, obvious, public knowledge: create quality content -- that's it. It's just important to remember that this is an art because, while it's a simple policy, and while there are "rules" that describe good content and bad content (rules you theoretically learned in High School), it's ultimately something you simply have to learn and get good at, like any other artform. You can't just follow "the rules" and end up with quality content. You have to have a sense for producing and editing content that naturally follows the rules -- again, these are the same basic rules you learned in High School, with some variance based on your target audience.

If you know your topic, you're a good writer, and you're writing to your audience (NOT to the search engine), it's probably going to be quality content, and Google (and other engines) will probably recognize it as quality content. These folks update their engines regularly to better separate the SEO'd content from quality content written for people.

Know what I mean?