Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short, has become more than a small part of marketing strategy. It has transformed into a fully developed department of current online marketing. There are untold numbers of articles telling you what to do versus what not to do. The resources you want are the ones that keep you informed on the latest SEO tools and trends.

For instance, new features are constantly added to SEO tools. Companies continually publish reports of their current findings. There are also places dedicated to analyzing the extreme influx of data while offering up potential tactics that, in theory, could work great for the SEO landscape. Among the myriad of choices available, do not waste time sifting through the garbage to find truly useful sites.

News sites, though informative, do not provide anything much more than a well-written list of facts. By mixing these with blogs and other trusted sources of information, you greatly increase your knowledge base and stay on top of the latest SEO information.

1. Alltop SEO

Hands down, the most complete, varied resource on the web for SEO information. Alltop pools together all of the blogs and posts under them their five most current publications. It also features a special section for the five most popular stories of all the sites. Though there are a lot of places, these are actually put up to a set of standards.

If determined to be a valued, trusted source, they are added to the page. Since Alltop covers hundreds of other topics, you need to always double-check you are in the SEO section. Whether browsing or searching for a specific topic, Alltop is similar to Wikipedia. It gives the best place to start your research while providing links to sources that can flesh out what you have found.

2. Moz Blogs

Previously SEO Moz, Moz is a very popular part of the SEO community. Within the site, there are four different blogs that you can sift through. The Moz blog is the spearhead of the entire site. It features articles for leaders of the industry, announcements, and reports from all of the most used search engines. It is constantly updating and always on top of staying current.

YouMoz is the blog of the community where anyone can submit an article. The Moz team reads over them. Then, they publish the best of the best. When an article ends up popular, it gets bumped to the Moz blog. If you are looking for fresh ideas and outside-of-the-box thinking, definitely pay attention to this one.

Rand’s blog is purely analysis and opinion-based writing from the co-founder of Moz and Inbound.org. He writes on very interesting aspects of the SEO community and his take on each one. The dev blog is for the developers.

It provides information for developers in their language. As such, it is not easily understood by those outside of the said community. However, that does not make it a useless source. Instead, it provides an often-overlooked section important to SEO.

3. Search Engine Land

The best, most visited SEO blog on the web today, Search Engine Land is a veritable data mine for everything related to SEO. Combining Google updates with case studies and great videos, it explains both basic and more complex definitions. It is continually updated and features advice columns as written by some of the leading experts in the field.

Search Engine Land also allows you to subscribe to receive notifications as soon as something new is published. It is a great resource for SEO beginners and experts. Beginners can find a lot of help under the How-To section while experts can turn to their columns and SEO stories.

4. Search Engine Journal

This is a multi-author blog that brings in a large variety of articles from a great selection of writers. Always full of new perspectives, this site is made of more than just SEO opinions. There are stories that provide help for different issues.

There are many articles that quickly run down certain events and why those matter to the SEO community. Even though the articles tend to follow the latest news releases, it is still heavily centered on an active community. Many leave comments quickly picked up and addressed by the authors.

5. Search Engine Watch

Yet, another SEO blog features an impressive array of categories. If there happens to be a reputable conference happening based around one of the categories, it is listed on the menu bar directly under the correct heading along the top navigation. Full of reputable information and well-versed authors, Search Engine Watch is another great resource for opinions and analysis.

A useful sidebar posts live updates of the comments made on different articles, creating a wonderful sense of community. Anyone who feels they can address an issue can immediately respond. This also fosters a sense of analysis free from the constraints of the experts, which can lead to some very interesting ideas.

6. Higher Visibility

One of the best blogs to find definitions, Higher Visibility takes the more confusing issues and breaks them down to their components. It offers practical advice in a world of inundating information. Solely focused on the biggest stories, they keep their columns concise and to the point for only the most pertinent topics in the current SEO world.

7. Google Webmaster Central Blog

If you need the originating source of all articles and announcements from Google, this site is where it comes from. This is the fountainhead of all the big Google updates, advice articles, and tutorials on how to deal with their changes. It updates often with Google Analytics.

Strictly Google news. This site is only good for just that. It is not a good resource for diverse updates across the web. If you do utilize this source, make sure to subscribe to other sites that keep you informed about different companies. Though Google is leading the SEO race now, it is affected by the culture of it competitors.

8. Google Webmasters’ YouTube Channel

Matt Cutts, Google’s head of Webspam, uses this page to post answers to popular SEO questions he receives online. There are also multiple videos from other Google employees that answer similar questions. Like the Google blog but with video and audio.

It is strictly Google information only. It is certainly not a comprehensive resource. That being said, Google is still the leading search engine. To not have at least one direct source for their updates would be detrimental to building up a collection of useful SEO resources.

9. Matt Cutts’ Blog

Matt Cutts, head of Google Webspam, also keeps a personal blog. If Google makes an important announcement on their blog, it can be safely assumed he was somehow involved. This resource is the closest you can get to the source of Google information. It is an incredible resource for SEO information.

Like the previous Google sources, his news is either strictly Google-related or about personal challenges. The blog is often updated infrequently. With Cutts taking a break until October, there will not be any posts for a few months. This, however, does not detract from any of the previously posted articles about SEO.

10. SEO By The Sea

This blog takes every SEO patent and breaks it down into layperson’s terms. Most do not have the time to piece together the often confusing wording of patents. It is the best resource when working to understand not only what is happening now with SEO technology and development but also predicting future trends.

Focusing on all of the recently published patents, it breaks them down. It analyzes the potential effects each one has on the future of the SEO landscape. If you are looking ahead and want to plan your business strategy around what will be changing, this blog is essential.

11. Bruce Clay Blog

Working with SEO since its infancy in 1996. Bruce Clay travels the world speaking at conferences on the subject. He even authored Search Engine Optimization All-In-One for Dummies. While other blogs post more articles than can be read in a single day, Clay’s blog only ever publishes a few a week.

Each article is thorough to ensure the topics are actually analyzed, not merely glossed over. The topics posted are also always relevant to the current trends. From analysis to advice, Clay covers only the important issues. As the head professional in the business, he is aware of what to ignore versus what to pay attention to.

If your resource research leaves you confused as to what to actually devote time to, spend some time getting to analyze Bruce Clay. With his success, it can be safely assumed he knows exactly what to watch out for.

Whether looking for all-encompassing blogs, just news releases, or opinions from the leaders of the SEO industry, it is crucial to access at least 3-4 great sites. By diversifying the information you study, you diversify exactly how you can manage and build your SEO.

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