I’m going to let you in on a secret. SEOmoz is about change.
Just in the past couple of weeks Matt has announced he’s leaving (best of luck again!) and Rand has broken the news that SEOmoz is taking on external funding. As well as all that though, I can still remember when premium content launched and when Jane got hired. Jeez, I think I can even recall Rebecca getting hired.
Changes don’t happen in isolation.
Alongside all the change that’s been going on with SEOmoz as a company, however, there have been changes afoot within SEOmoz the community as well.
I remember the days when all I did was read the blog posts, laugh at the comics and wander off back to work in my cubicle. Well, I no longer work in a cubicle and I no longer just read the blog posts (any correlation there…?). Over the past 12 months the amount of quality content in the comments has really rocketed – now you’re missing out if you only read the posts. Some of the top minds in the field drop by with insightful additions and thoughtful comments, and your average post receives 30-40 comments, with one or two a week gaining well over 100.
…BUT (there’s always a but)
Alongside the experts and the industry leaders there are also people new to the world of SEO. People reading SEOmoz as a way of learning the fundamentals. Just like I did back in the day.
And this is a good thing. After all, SEOmoz was where I started out on the path to SEO enlightenment (and before you ask, yes I am still on the path, everyone is. There is no end to this path), and SEOmoz is where I’m sure people take their first step onto the path every single day.
So how do I give back to the SEOmoz community of beginners?
As a show of gratitude to the SEOmoz community and all it’s given me, I present to all the newbies and beginners out there a list of alternative SEO blogs which I recommend you subscribe to alongside SEOmoz. They cover a wide spectrum of topics and angles, but I think all will give you a real insight into aspects of SEO that you’d never even dreamed of before. For everyone who’s recently subscribed to SEOmoz and is wondering what’s next – this is for you.
SEO RSS feeds I personally recommend for beginners:
Sphinn: A social news site for the SEO/SEM community. Since every topic which makes it onto the homepage has been voted as popular by the SEO community, every story is of a good quality and usually directly relevant. Although you won’t want to read every single story, you should at least scan the homepage headlines.
Subscribe directly to the hot topics feed here: http://feeds.sphinn.com/sphinn
SearchEngineLand: An SEO news and information portal written by some of the top names in the industry. Although the amount of information can be overwhelming, thankfully there are lots of different feeds allowing you to pick and choose which stories you read. To begin with, I recommend the daily search cap, as it sums up the SEO community each day in one nice convenient post.
Subscribe directly to the daily search cap feed here: http://feeds.searchengineland.com/searchcap
Matt Cutts: Google’s head of webspam; I’m sure you’ve heard the name. This is his blog, and he often breaks news on webmaster guidelines updates, Google’s stance on various issues, and how to generally do best practice SEO. Official opinion seems like a paradox, but this is the closest thing. Matt also writes about gadgets and online stuff as well, and his full feed is here.
Subscribe to just posts about SEO and Google here: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/type/googleseo/feed/
Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: This is the official blog of the Google Webmaster Central team. Although they don’t post often, when they do it’s often to update you on recent changes, which will directly affect site owners and as such is pretty important.
Subscribe directly to the feed here: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Vanessa Fox: Although now working for Zillow, Vanessa used to be the head of Google’s Webmaster Central Team and as such knows a thing or two about ranking sites and the issues webmasters face. In particular, she likes to deal with issues directly affecting site owners rather than the SEO community in general. Also – she likes talking about Buffy!
Subscribe directly to the feed here: http://www.vanessafoxnude.com/feed/
Blue Hat SEO: Still reading this far? Great, then it’s about time you subscribed to something a little more shady. While not exactly black hat (hence the name blue hat SEO), it’s most certainly not white hat stuff! Why should you subscribe to this? Because when Eli writes, everyone sits up and listens. You might not actually be able to implement everything he suggests, but to be able to understand why what he says works is a crucial step on the path to enlightenment. Sometimes he still loses me, but I try and keep up wherever possible.
Subscribe directly to the feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BlueHatSEO/HXKR
Hamlet Batista: Although still pretty new to blogging, Hamlet has made some big waves already and has provided some killer content. Although his posts are often pretty technical and require some programming knowledge, as with Blue Hat SEO, it’s essential to understand the underlying principles even if you can’t implement the details yourself. Hamlet also has a very compelling writing style, despite English not being his first language!
Subscribe directly to the feed here: http://hamletbatista.com/feed/
Stuntdubl: The tagline ‘get hit by traffic not cars’ sums this up very well. Covering anything from linking techniques to social media tactics and SEO best practices, if you read this blog you’ll end up with more traffic. It’s that simple!
Subscribe directly to the feed here: http://www.stuntdubl.com/feed
SEO Blackhat: Despite the black hat name and design of the site, this blog by Quadzilla is really mainly about linkbaiting. Quadzilla never ceases to amaze me by quite how far outside the box he travels with his linkbaiting tactics. Essential reading. Also, the odd bit of actual black hat you’ll read is very important to understand, even if you cannot or do not wish to implement any of it on client sites.
Subscibre directly to the feed here: http://seoblackhat.com/feed/
Cornwall SEO: If you’re looking to get ahead on social media sites, then reading this blog is essential. I’ve never come across anyone able to write titles as well as Lyndon. From Title Tags and the secret story of the hairy golf ball to She is Excited and gives her link freely, Lyndon constantly makes me click on his posts in my feed reader (I challenge you not to click on either of those links!). If you can understand WHY his titles are so compelling then you’ll get a huge boost in your social media game. (Oh, and it doesn’t stop at the titles, his posts are pretty good too!)
Subscibre directly to the feed here: http://www.cornwallseo.com/search/index.php/feed/
Pronet Advertising: Continuing on the social media theme, the guys over at Pronet are all exceedingly talented and constantly review new techniques, tactics, and news in the social media sphere. From the new Digg layout to the best ways to leverage StumbleUpon traffic, if you want to learn about social media this is the place for you.
Subscribe directly to the feed here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/PronetAdvertising
Obviously this isn’t the full list of blogs I read (as stated above I subscribe to over 120), so please don’t be offended if I haven’t linked to you from here. This is just a snapshot of the blogs I read which I think people new to SEO will get the most value from. I encourage everyone to think for themselves at all times and use your own common sense when choosing who to subscribe to. And remember; if in doubt, subscribe!
So, why 11 and a half feeds? Well, Will and Duncan and I all write over on the Distilled Blog. Subscribe directly to that here: http//www.distilled.co.uk/blog/feed/. But I’ve only counted it as a half feed in the interest of fairness 😉
