Shady CSS Users – You Can Run but You Can’t Hide Anymore

If you’re tired of the way your site looks and want a change, but don’t want to deal with changing your HTML, then CSS (cascading style sheet) files can be your best friend. You can easily give your site a face lift with the help of these files without having to spend hours on end adjusting your HTML code.

However, like all things, there are some web designers who have taken the use of CSS and gotten a little sneaky with it. Using CSS a site owner can easily hide content from their visitors. By filling their HTML code with keyword stuffed content, the search engines would index the site based on those keywords, but the visitors would never see all the keyword overloaded content.

Nothing like trying to pull the wool over a search engine bots’ eyes hu? Nice try guys, but you can’t hide anymore. According to an article I read at IMNewsWatch.com, it seems that to combat this problem, Google is now indexing CSS files. You can read the article here => Does Google Read CSS Files?

Not that you needed one, but there’s just one more reason tricky tactics don’t pay off in internet marketing.

Review: SEO Book by Aaron Wall

Recently, the author of SEO Book asked if I would review his ebook for him. I'd heard of the SEO Book and seen Aaron's very popular blog a few times, so I thought I'd take him up on his offer.

Overall, the ebook provides solid advice on growing and then maintaining your free traffic from search engines. I love that he keeps focus on providing quality content and he even says that some great content needn't be optimized, but it serves other SEO purposes (but I'll let him explain that to you!). He also is careful to tell his readers that SEO for SEO's sake (i.e. to get free traffic) isn't the way to do business online. If you can't sell anything to that traffic - what's the point?

Now, I do have to say the first 22 pages were a mish-mash of thoughts that might overwhelm someone new to online business. The first section was meant to be a summary, but the ideas were scattered and terminology was thrown about without explanation. Luckily, when chapter 1 finally starts on page 3, he explains all the concepts in more detail and he also points to his online glossary where you can check the meaning of any words you may not understand. He also gives his direct email address to ask quick questions.

He also explains in his ebook that some of the ideas may seem scattered because he is constantly working on the ebook, adding more information and just wants to give as much to his readers as he possibly can. And there is a ton of information. At 328 pages, there is no shortage of content. However, it's important to realize that not all 328 pages are about search engine optimization. He includes other Internet marketing advice including branding, viral marketing, conversion and so forth.

The table of contents includes chapters on:

• Why Search
• A Brief History of the Web
• General Internet Topics
• Writing for Search Engines
• Directories & Communities
• Search Engines (details about the majors)
• Link Building
• Viral Marketing & The Social Web
• Monitoring Results
• Pay-Per-Click
• Hiring a Search Engine Optimizer
• Selling SEO Services (an interesting section for those wanting to make it a career)

I like the refreshing honesty that Aaron portrays in his ebook, but he needn't be so modest. As his credential say on his website:

• Certified as a Google Advertising Professional
• Link Building Moderator at "SearchGuild" (awall19)
• SEO and Google Search Engine Moderator at "V7N" (awall19)
• Referenced numerous times by "Search Engine Watch" (the largest search engine information site on the web).
• Regular contributor and active participant in many of the SEO hotspots such as "The Search Engine Journal" and have been referenced many times over by every reputable SEO forum.
• Editor at many of the top web directories.
• Examples: I am the Skaffe Pay Per Click Search Engines Guide, a GoGuides Guide, Web Beacon Editor, and JoeAnt Shopping Editor.
• My articles have been syndicated on many SEO websites.
• ISEDB
• Search Engine Guide
• LilEngine
• SearchGuild
• WebProWorld
• dozens and dozens of others
• Current with the latest search engine news on SEOBook.com every day.
• And most importantly… I make my living on the Internet, entirely from SEO techniques!

The guide is clearly based on Aaron's experience and that is so refreshing. Many Internet marketing-related ebooks are based on what people have read elsewhere. I'd rather read what works for people than just a bunch of theory. So, if you can get over the mish-mash at the start, you'll probably find yourself an interesting resource to help you increase your traffic and your sales. You can read more about his SEO Book at his website.

If you've read the ebook, feel free to share your thoughts. It's great to have a balanced perspective.