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Stay on Top Reading the Leading Search Engine Newsletters
by Mike Banks Valentine ©Copyright 2004

Search engines are constantly changing their algorithms,
being purchased by larger search engines, and inking new
partnerships with large portals and metasearch providers.
In order to keep up to date with all those changes it is
possible to skim regular search engine newsletters for
all the most important news and commentary in the industry.

Search engine newsletters, discussion lists and resources 
that will be a valuable asset to anyone who truly has an
ongoing interest or need to stay current with the latest
search engine information. I suggest that at least one 
member of your staff subscribe to at least a couple of these
resources. Each of them are different and I've described
them to make the choice easier for someone with limited time
to choose the most relevant one for their situation.

The industry standard and recognized authority is Search
Engine Watch from Danny Sullivan and SEW editor Chris Sherman.
SearchEngineWatch has both a free and a (longer and more
detailed) paid version of it's newsletter available by email
and archived online. SearchEngineWatch has the ear of the
search engine industry and runs quotes, commentary and 
insider answers from search engine CEO's and top staff (where 
many newsletters simply speculate and offer anecdotal 
information).

The paid membership is $60 for six months or yearly at $90.

SearchDay:  <http://www.searchenginewatch.com/searchday> 
SEReport:   <http://www.searchenginewatch.com/sereport/index.php> 
Membership: <http://searchenginewatch.com/benefits/article.php> 

One of the top free resources for beginners (for beginners only 
because she avoids using SEO jargon and technobabble) is Jill 
Whalen's "High Rankings Advisor". Jill concentrates on addressing 
the essentials and basics of SEO copywriting and web page 
structure, also answering questions from subscribers. Features 
guest contributors along with her own regular column in this 
excellent ezine, which is described at the following URL:

<http://www.highrankings.com/advisor.htm>

Subscription form is available at the page above and archives
of past issues are at:

<http://www.highrankings.com/archives.htm>

One VERY valuable subscription for everyone following search
engine issues is the I-Search Discussion list where both
search engine specialists and newbies learn from each other,
discuss the latest trends, ask questions and share knowledge
about the search engines. Moderated by Andrew Goodman of
Traffick.com and author of the "How to Maximize Google Adwords"
ebook. I-Search Subscription is $10 monthly and is available
at the following URL:

<http://www.marketingwonk.com/lists/isearch/>

"How to Maximize Google Adwords" ebook 
<http://www.page-zero.com/products_asroi.asp>

I-Search since February of 1998 through August of 2003 are
archived for background information at the following URL:

<http://list.adventive.com/archives/i-search.html>

I'm a big fan of Search Engine Marketer and Optimization
specialist Shari Thurow and her straightforward, ethical
style. Both Shari and expert SEM guru Frederick Marckini 
share the best of publisher ClickZ's Search engine newsletter
"Search Results". This is one of four search related
publications from internet.com publisher ClickZ and both
subscription and archives are available here:

<http://www.clickz.com/search/results/>

As an avid reader of most of these lists, I publish my own
irregularly distributed newsletter with commentary and some
instruction for those seeking a better understanding of 
major issues at the major search engines. You can subscribe
at the following URL:

<http://searchengineoptimism.com>

A great all-around free search engine news resource that is
available by email and online is Pandia Search World which
is a European (in English) perspective, but turns out to be
not very different from US information. Good resource. Two
ezines available. The Bi-Monthly Pandia Post is an original
article ezine produced by them. The Pandia Search World is a
search engine news aggregator. Both available from the 
following URL:

<http://www.pandia.com/post/index.html>

Axandra Search Engine Ranking Facts newsletter is distributed
by the makers of search engine ranking software Arelis and
IBP (both valuable search engine marketing tools worthy of
consideration). The newsletter follows industry trends and
commentary. Available at:

<http://www.axandra.com/news/index.htm#subscribe>

Another software maker that distributes a regular newsletter
is First Place Software's "MarketPosition Newsletter". This
newsletter comments on the industry as well as discussing
features, uses and updates of their widely used and extremely 
useful Web Position Gold search engine ranking and reporting
software. Subscription information and archives both available
at the following URL:

<http://www.marketposition.com/newsletters.htm>

Finally, About.com is a very well respected source of information 
about the most popular topics on the web. Search is addressed 
from the perspective of the searcher in this "Guide Site" which 
offers a weekly newsletter as well. Contributed articles and 
commentary from current guide Jennifer Laycock bring the 
perspective of the searcher looking for information together 
with those seeking to be found for relevant search phrases. 
Subscribe at:

<http://websearch.about.com/gi/pages/mmail.htm>

Many of these newsletters are available by Rich Site Summary
(or Really Simple Syndication) XML feeds if you have and use
an RSS reader on your system. RSS is a blogging technology
that allows you to subscribe to news or commentary that you
choose and to avoid further clogging already overloaded email
inboxes. More about RSS XML feeds can be  accessed from 
most of the sites that offer the service by looking for the 
small rectangular orange and white "RSS" or "XML" logos on any 
of those sites offering that service. Or simply visit the
About.com RSS page at:

<http://websearch.about.com/b/s.htm>

Speaking of blogs, there are several bloggers that emphasize
and discuss search engine issues. The best of those is from
search engine marketer, Andrew Goodman, who is also moderator
of the I-Search Discussion list mentioned above and author of 
the well respected book "Unleash the Power of Google AdWords".
Andrew maintains the blog with entries commenting and linking
to search engine marketing industry news and developments at
the following URL: 

<http://www.traffick.com>

I'll leave it to you to find more blogs since it's an endless
search and Traffick.com is the best search related blog.

Here are a few links to Search Engine Discussion Forums 
where members can post and read all the latest minutia of search.

<http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/> 
<http://www.webmasterworld.com/index.htm> 
<http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php> 
<http://www.seo-news.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi>
<http://www.jimworld.com/apps/webmaster.forums> 
<http://www.ihelpyouservices.com/forums/>

Whether you'd rather receive your newsletters by email, read
them via RSS, or prefer visiting discussion forums to gain
the latest information, I highly recommend using these
resources to keep abreast of the most important issues
related to search engine positioning, marketing and ranking.

================================================================
Mike Banks Valentine is a Search Engine Optimization
Specialist practicing ethical SEO for Online businesses
http://SEOptimism.com

Take our Search Engine Quiz to test your Skills Level 
http://SearchEngineOptimism.com/search_engine_quiz.html
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