Which factors are really most important in search engine rankings? How do search engines treat different forms of keywords? How can you get the most of out of Google's free webmaster tools to improve rankings? What other tools are worth checking out for keywords, linking and website analysis?

Find the answers to these questions and others here in more of the best SEO blog posts from this year.

Guide to Search Engine Ranking Factors by HuoMah SEO Blog

The brilliant—and entertaining—David Harry provides an exhaustive list of the primary and secondary factors affecting search engine rank, from link-related factors (link text, relevance, PageRank) and header data through trust-related factors (domain history, outbound links) and "dampening factors" (poor coding, duplicate content and URL issues).


Q&A: A Few Things You Need to Know About Keyword Usage by Search Engine Guide

Stoney deGuyter offers valuable insights on how search engines treat keywords, such as that capitalization (usually) doesn't matter, keywords have more weight if they are used in a title or header tag or are bolded, and search engines are getting better at recognizing forms of a word (e.g. sites including "kayaks" or "kayaking" will show up on a search for "kayak"). On that last point though, keep in mind that for popular search phrases, even a single character can make a big difference. For example, one website shows up at #2 on Google for "business services management," but at #23 for business service management.


Build A Great B2B Search Engine Marketing Campaign by The Milwaukee SEO

This post combines useful information about setting up b2b SEO and SEM campaigns (such as getting the website information architecture right to start with, choosing keywords carefully with an eye toward the long tail, using PPC advertising effectively, and targeting local search) with humor—at least to those of us who live and breathe b2b marketing, and are amused by how perplexing it can be to b2c marketing agencies. Another noteworthy post from this blog is Get Keyword Rank Data from Google Webmaster Tools, provides detailed step-by-step instructions for analyzing website performance using Google's webmaster tools. This is geekier than even most search marketers will go, but can supply valuable insights.


SEO Basics: 6 Tips for Google Webmaster Tools by TopRank Online Marketing Blog

Thomas McMahon serves up more tips for using Google's webmaster tools, including how to spot site errors such as broken links, analyze meta and title tags, and identify a site's top keyword search queries.


Domain Name Forwarding and Search Engines by Best Domain Names

Dan LeFree explains how properly set up forwarding for multiple domain names to a single website without being penalized by the search engines for duplicate content. The site looks a little spammy, but the article is a helpful, quick read.


Five Tips for Avoiding Deceptive SEO Companies by Small Business Trends

An excellent piece from Janet Meiners Thaeler on manipulative practices to watch out for when hiring an SEO firm, such as "guaranteed" rankings, use of hidden links, and duplicate content on multiple domains or subdomains. For more on this topic, see Just Say No to Bad SEO on SEOmoz.


SEO Tools 101, Part 1 by Search Engine Watch

Ron Jones reviews several keyword, site grader and linking tools. His favorite keyword tool is the SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool; as Ron explains, "I like this one because it links to most of the other existing keyword tools, such as Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery, and tools from Google, MSN, and Yahoo. This one tool lets you explore many others."

Previous posts in this series:

Best of 2009 (So Far): Social Media Marketing, Part 1
Best of 2009 (S0 Far): AdWords Tips and Tactics, Part 1
Best of 2009 (So Far): Blogging for Business, Part 1
Best of 2009 (So Far): SEO Guidance, Part 1
Best of 2009 (So Far): Cool Web Tools, Part 1
Best of 2009 (So Far): Twitter Tips and Tactics, Part 1
Best of 2009 (So Far): Social Media Marketing, Part 2
Best of 2009 (So Far): AdWords Tips and Tactics, Part 2
Best of 2009 (So Far): SEO Guidance, Part 2
Best of 2009 (So Far): Cool Web Tools, Part 2
Best of 2009 (So Far): Search Engine Marketing
Best of 2009 (So Far): Social Media Marketing, Part 3
Best of 2009 (So Far): SEO Guidance, Part 3
Best of 2009 (So Far): Blogging for Business, Part 2
Best of 2009 (So Far): Twitter Tips and Tactics, Part 2

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Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentralDOTcom