Top 5 Search Marketing Sites

It should come as no surprise that the best information about search marketing is found on the Web. The field simply changes too fast to fit into a book publishing format, since books can take eight to 12 months to write, and another six months to print. In just six months, search marketing can undergo some pretty dramatic changes.

One problem with search marketing is that there is simply too much information available on the Web today. Every search marketing professional complains about the surfeit of information, and has his or her own unique strategy for dealing with it. One strategy is to limit your focus to a few very good sites.

So here are my Top 5 Search Marketing Sites. Visit these five to get a sense of what’s going on today in search marketing, and, if you really want to want to become knowledgeable, spend at least a couple hours a week reading the extensive material you’ll find here:

SEMPO www.sempo.org
The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) is the largest and most active of the organizations in the search industry, and represents thousands of search professionals in more than 30 countries. Visit this site to monitor upcoming industry events, and click through the Learning Center for useful articles, case studies and research as well as webinars and seminars, all freely available to the general public. Also check out the SEMPO Institute, which offers online courses to those wishing to improve their knowledge of search marketing. The current curriculum includes Fundamentals of Search Marketing, Advanced Search Engine Optimization, and Advanced Search Advertising.

Oh, and the best glossary of search marketing terms on the Web is on this site in the Learning Center at http://www.sempo.org/learning_center/sem_glossary/. You should bookmark that page so you can find it in a hurry when a colleague starts throwing around bizarre acronyms.

Bruce Clay www.bruceclay.com
Founded in 1996, Bruce Clay, Inc. has become one of the world’s leading Internet business consulting firms, with an especially strong reputation for cutting edge search engine optimization (SEO). Bruce Clay’s site offers a treasure trove of information to those wanting to know more about search marketing. You’ll find excellent introductions to SEO, web analytics and SEO web design among other topics. Be sure to check out the articles on the site for up-to-date information about selected search marketing topics. And while you’re on the site, subscribe to Bruce Clay’s bi-monthly SEOToolSet™ Newsletter to make sure you stay current.

MarketingSherpa www.marketingsherpa.com
If you haven’t yet been to this site, you need to check it out. MarketingSherpa is a seven-year-old organization dedicated to tracking what works in all aspects of marketing (not just search marketing). Readership purportedly includes over a quarter million marketing, advertising and public relations professionals. A lot of information on the site is free; spend 20 minutes and you’ll get 20 good ideas to improve your marketing. Among the top features of the firms are the Sherpa Benchmark Guides, which have become the best practices Bible for E-Commerce, Email Marketing, Search Marketing and other topics. Membership brings a number of benefits, including discounts on reports, and currently costs around $400.00.

eMarketer www.emarketer.com
I like this site for a couple of reasons. First, there’s a daily listing of important emarketing news articles. And second, the site offers a useful listing of recent articles by topic. Imagine you want to know what’s been happening in a specific area of electronic marketing – say, related to Internet Usage. You can find a recent listing of articles on this site, some free and others subscription. Other categories include Banking & Finance, E-Commerce, Media & Entertainment and Travel. You can also browse an extensive research library of archived articles. Then sign up for the eMarketer Daily Newsletter. There’s a lot here – visit so you know where to go when you need some esoteric bit of information to complete that business or project plan.

Search Engine Land searchengineland.com
No listing of top search marketing websites would be complete without reference to Danny Sullivan’s Search Engine Land. This is the best site for thoughtful, analytical commentary on current developments in search marketing. Search Engine Land probably has the best stable of writers on the industry. In addition to the articles on current developments in the industry, you’ll find the best directory or search marketing blogs on the Web. So if there’s some specific topic you’re researching, you must come here. You may also want to subscribe to the SearchCap newsletter, a daily recap of search engine news. Other newsletters and newsfeeds (RSS) are also available. If you had to pick one site to track to stay on top of the industry, this is it.