Search engine optimization (SEO) is not only the job of the marketing department. It must be considered from a web site's inception and throughout its lifetime by you, the web site developer. Making changes to the architecture of a web site and modifying presentation techniques can dramatically increase search engine rankings and traffic levels.

Written for the PHP developer or tech-savvy marketer, this unique reference provides techniques for creating and maintaining web sites optimized for search engines. You'll discover how to facilitate the indexing of your site, as well as how to leverage specific technologies and services for site promotion. You will understand the role of web site architecture in search engine optimization and explore various topics therein. Knowing this will help you to develop a site that achieves great search engine rankings. Finally, you'll apply this knowledge by creating a sample e-commerce catalog and an optimized WordPress blog.

What you will learn from this book

• Understand the criteria that influence search engine rankings

• Create keyword-rich URLs using PHP, Apache, and mod_rewrite

• Use HTTP Headers to properly indicate the status of web documents

• Create optimized content and cope with duplicate content effectively

• Avoid being the victim of black hat SEO techniques

• Understand and implement geo-targeting and cloaking

• Use site maps effectively—for users as well as search engines

• Create a search engine–friendly WordPress blog

• Build a search engine–friendly e-commerce catalog

This book is for PHP developers who need to incorporate search engine optimization principles into their web applications, as well as marketers who want to gain a better understanding of the technologies involved in search engine marketing.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

About the Author

Jaimie Sirovich is a search engine marketing consultant. He works with his clients to build them powerful online presences. Officially Jaimie is a computer programmer, but he claims to enjoy marketing much more. He graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology with a BS in Computer Science. He worked under Barry Schwartz at RustyBrick, Inc., as lead programmer on e-commerce projects until 2005. At present, Jaimie consults for several organizations and administrates the popular search engine marketing blog, SEOEgghead.com.

Cristian Darie is a software engineer with experience in a wide range of modern technologies, and the author of numerous books and tutorials on AJAX, ASP.NET, PHP, SQL, and related areas. Cristian currently lives in Bucharest, Romania, studying distributed application architectures for his PhD. He’s getting involved with various commercial and research projects, and when not planning to buy Google, he enjoys his bit of social life. If you want to say “Hi,” you can reach Cristian through his personal web site at http://www.cristiandarie.ro.