"The Ultimate Beginners Resource Guide to Search Engine Optimization."

Do you know what search engine optimization is? Do you know how valuable it can be to you and your website? Are you trying to optimize your website, but don't know where to start?

I present to you The Ultimate Beginners Resource Guide to Search Engine Optimization. Or, UBRGSEO for short.

Getting Started.

Before you get started with this guide - or researching search engine optimization in general - you should take a few minutes to look at these resources. They will not only give you an idea of what search engine optimization is, but they will also help you better understand the how, why, and what's of SEO.

The beginners guide to search engine optimization by Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz, is the perfect place to start. With over nine pages, seven huge sections, and a great resource page at the end, the SEOmoz beginners guide to search engine optimization is ideally the first place you should go if you're interested in search engine optimization.

The guide is fairly lengthy, but shouldn't take more than a few coffee breaks to finish up.

Getting Started with SEO at Search Engine Guide is a much smaller, brief summary of search engine optimization. Offering valuable advice for getting started in the search engine optimization field.

Google's "What's an SEO" page is a good place to read a quick summary of what SEO is about, and how to identify good, quality traits of an SEO. Because Google is such a dominating search engine, I would strongly advice you follow their advice and read as much from them as you can.



Valuable SEO Tools

A SEO is only as good as his or her tools. If you're a beginner, you will especially appreciate the free tools available to help you optimize your website.

McDar Keyword Analysis is a very useful tool for optimization, it tells you where your website ranks in the Google search results for a specific keyword. The McDar Keyword Analysis tool is completely free, and very easy to use. Just type in your website address and a keyword, click a button, and start monitoring your website's ranking.

SEOmoz SEO Toolbox is another great resource provided FREE by the professionals at SEOmoz.org. With the SEO Toolbox you can find the strongest SEO-friendly page on your domain, find out who else is hosted on your IP, check inclusion in search engines, and much more more.

Some of the tools at the SEOmoz SEO Toolbox are not extremely useful, but each has a strength that will help beginner SEOs determine the value of their SEO abilities.

The Google Toolbar is an extension for the Firefox web browser. With the Google toolbar you can instantly see the Google PageRank of any website you browse to, you can highlight specified search terms, and you can find websites similar to ones you visit.

Wordtracker is simply a tool that helps you determine what keywords to work with when optimizing your website. Wordtracker is on a subscription bases (for as little as $30 for one week), but they also offer a free trial version of their software.



Blogs About SEO

When working with SEO, the best advice anyone can give you is to keep track of the market. Search engine optimization is changing on a daily basis, and keeping track of the latest news and guides will help you be successful in your efforts.

The best way to stay on top of things? Read top industry blogs, like the ones here:

Search Engine Land - A great blog by some great, prominent people in the search engine industry. Definitely the place to go to stay up-to-date with all of the latest search engine happenings.

SEOmoz - The leading blog in the field of search engine optimization, the SEOmoz team provides valuable, and fun information for any search engine optimizer.

SEO Book - Although very opinion based, SEO Book is a valuable blog for anyone who is looking into search engine optimization. And while you're there, take a look at the actual book.

SEO Chat - A good resource for search engine optimizers. Offers a lot of valuable help and advice for both beginners and veterans.

Top Rank Blog - Always on top of the latest in the world of search marketing, this blog is a great resource for search engine marketers.

SEO 2.0 - Blog that takes a modern, innovative, and fun look at search engine optimization.