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8 free ebooks to read to improve your SEO

February 17, 2016 - 6  min reading time - by Emma Labrador
Home > SEO Thoughts > 8 free ebooks to read to improve your SEO

Search Engine Optimization gathers a wide field of knowledge that need to be maintained. Actually, search engine updates occur several times a year and that’s why facts you took for granted can evolve with time. It exists many free ebooks to stay up to date with SEO but not all of them are equal. Also, if you are a beginner, it can sometimes be uncomfortable to know which content you should study. If you need qualitative support you should take a look at ebooks. They are often quite complete, more informative than a simple blog posts and offer in-depth knowledges. It exists many resources over the Internet but not all of them are free or deserve an attention. Our selection of 8 free ebooks will for sure deliver some basics knowledges in SEO but also more advanced ones.

The indispensible free ebooks

1# Moz-The-Beginners-Guide-To-SEO by Moz

Details: 52 pages – 2015 – PDF

This ebook is the perfect one for every person who desire to start learning the founding principles of SEO. This ebook is split between 10 chapters:

  • Chapter 1: How search engines operate
  • Chapter 2: How people interact with search engines
  • Chapter 3: Why search engine marketing is necessary
  • Chapter 4: The basics of search engine friendly design & development
  • Chapter 5: Keyword research
  • Chapter 6: How usability, user experience & content affect search engine rankings
  • Chapter 7: Growing popularity and links
  • Chapter 8: Search engine tools and services
  • Chapter 9: Myths & misconceptions about search engines
  • Chapter 10: Measuring & tracking success

This resource stresses out all the basics you should know about SEO.

2# 17 SEO miths you should left behind in 2015 by Hubspot

Details: 25 pages – 2015 – PDF

SEO is constantly evolving. Something that was true in 2013 can still be but some points can have changed. With Panda, Penguin, Pigeon and the others updates, something you can read on the top search engines results can be outdated and wrong. This ebook presents 17 myths that are still running the Internet and habits that should be abandonned by SEOs. Here is how this ebook is composed:

  • Foreword
  • Introduction
  • SEO myths 2015
  • Conclusion
  • Resources

You however need to fill out some informations before getting access to the document.

The practicals free ebooks

3# SEO – The Past, Present, and Future by Rebecca Churt

Details: 22 pages – 2014 – PDF

This ebook is a quick overview of the SEO state of play and its history. It also offers tips for the future and points of development. Bonus of this one: the author shares a Keyword Development Worksheet to help you out with your business or website keywords development.

The document is split between 5 chapters:

  • Chapter 1: The basics
  • Chapter  2: Back in the day
  • Chapter  3: Today
  • Chapter 4: The future of SEO
  • Chapter 5: Resources

As the previous one, this guide is available for free in exchange of some professional information.

4# The SEO Survival Guide by Weidert Group

Details: 18 pages – 2014 – PDF

This ebook is pretty qualitative since it draws many fields of the SEO discipline. It thus explains the right way to settle an SEO strategy that correspond to your global marketing goals. But it also focuses on search engines, content creation, public relation and even social media. Actually, this ebook is divided between the following categories:

  • Introduction
  • Search Engine Research
    • Search Engine Algorithm Bias
    • Adapting Your SEO Strategy to Search Engine Updates
    • Keyword Research
  • Content Creation
    • Creating Optimized Content
    • Optimizing Content for SEO and the Web
  • Link Building
    • 75% of SEO Depends On It
    • Geographic SEO
  • Social Strategy
    • Social Media
    • Public Relations

The website asks for a few informations to dowload the ebook for free.

#5 SEO Tutorial For Beginners 2015 by Hobo

This ebook is directly available on the Hobo website.

That resource is a classic for people starting to work in the SEO industry. It has solid references and is kept up to date every year. Even if for SEO experts this might be too light, it is still a good one to keep in mind for marketers or beginners. The guide is split into the following parts:

  • What is SEO?
  • An Introduction
  • The ‘Rules’
  • Opportunity
  • The Process
  • What Is A Successful Strategy?
  • Google Rankings Are In Constant Ever-Flux
  • Relevance, Authority & Trust
  • Ranking Factors
  • Learn SEO Basics….

The specialized free ebooks

6# How to Create Compelling Content that Ranks Well in Search Engines by Brian Clark


Details: 52 pages – 2014 – PDF

This ebook goes throught content optimization in terms of visitor’s engagement but also in terms of SEO. Even if this guide hasn’t done much effort on its design, it delivers interesting informations about the way you should write for both your readers and search engines.

  • Part 1: Wait … Isn’t SEO Dead?
  • Part 2: Search Engines Send the Most Valuable Traffic
  • Part 3: How do search engines work?
  • Part 4 : SEO copywriting is the “last mile” to targeted search rankings
  • Part 5: And if you ignore this SEO stuff?
  • Part 6: Traffic has to convert, or why bother?
  • Part 7: The 5 essential elements of search engine keyword research
  • Part 8: How to create cornerstone content that Google loves
  • Part 9: The Two Huge Benefits Cornerstone Content Provides
  • Part 10: Content + Promotion = Links and Sharing
  • Part 11: Five areas to focus on for effective SEO copywriting
  • Part 12: Five SEO copywriting elements that matter
  • Part 13: Does writing for people work for SEO?
  • Part 14: How to make SEO copywriting simple
  • Part 15: Scribe makes SEO copywriting and content marketing simple
  • Part 16: Scribe 4.0: Way Beyond SEO
  • Part 17: Three Simple Steps to Content Marketing Success
  • Part 18: Scribe for WordPress, Microsoft Word, or Web-Based App
  • Part 19: See Scribe For Yourself

You must create a free account to get a full access to this content.

#7 Keyword Research: A Real-World Guide by CopyBlogger

Details: 37 pages – 2014 – PDF

Copyblogger is a must when it is about content and SEO. That’s why this ebook is a reference to improve your keywords related knowledges. This guide will help you understand how to research keywords and how to pick the right ones. You need to create a free account to get an access to this resource but I think it worths it.

Here is how the ebook is divided:

  • Part 1: Keyword Research: It’s Not What You Think
  • Part 2: How to Choose a Profitable Niche
  • Part 3: How to Find Content Topics That Score Big Using Keyword Research
  • Part 4: Keyword Research Can Help You Make Money
  • Part 5: A Primer on Keyword Research Tools

8# Free Guide to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for NZ Businesses

Details: 35 pages – 2015 – PDF

This guide provides 17 actionable steps that you can implement on your website right now to optimise it for search engines. This step by step blue print will almost guarentee you better placement for your targeted keywords in search.

  • Introduction
  • So What Is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Anyways?
  • 3 Quick & Simple Lessons In Search Engine Optimisation
    • Lesson 1 – What Do The Components Of A Result In Google Mean?
      Did You Notice?
      Using These 3 Components To Your Advantage
    • Lesson 2 – How do I choose the right keywords to target?
      The Google Keyword Planner
      Competitors
    • Lesson 3 – How Does Google Decide On The Order Of Search Results?
  • Start Here: 3 Things You’ll Need To Follow This SEO Guide
  • 17 Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Techniques Contents
    • Step 1: The Title Tag
    • Step 2. META Descriptions
    • Step 3. Create Content
    • Step 4. Add Internal Links
    • Step 5. Build External Links To Your Website
    • Step 6. Use Heading Tags
    • Step 7. Use Clean URLS
    • Step 8. Use Descriptive Image & File Names
    • Step 9. Use Clean HTML Code
    • Step 10. Improve Page Speed
    • Step 11. Add Image Alt Tags
    • Step 12. Add An XML Sitemap
    • Step 13. Add An HTML Sitemap
    • Step 14. Create A 404 Error Page
    • Step 15. Add Breadcrumbs
    • Step 16. A Mobile Friendly
    • Step 17. Use A Domain Name With Keywords
  • Bonus: 3 Bonus Ideas That Can Further Boost Your Online Visibility!

To be clear, there are plenty of resources on the Internet to improve your SEO knowledges and skills. Do you think of any others? Let us know in the comments.

Emma Labrador See all their articles
Emma was the Head of Communication & Marketing at Oncrawl for over seven years. She contributed articles about SEO and search engine updates.