Shari Thurow, Search Engine Visibility. Berkeley, CA: New Riders, 2003.

Admit it, by now you've Googled yourself (If you haven't, go to Google and run a search on your name. I'll wait.). It's interesting to see how the world sees us: is the top result you? Are you even on the first page?

Do you want to be? Sheri Thurow is a search engine marketer, and she can help. Her book Search Engine Visibility is straight-forward, crisp, and practical. In it, she provides enough basic theory for context, so one need never ask 'why'. From her five rules of web design to her search engine and directory submission checklists, her advice is clear and easy to follow. Thurow covers improving site visibility at two points: building new pages, and improving existant ones. Along the way she provides examples from her own portfolio as illustrations, and clear explanation of both the techniques to use and the reasons behind them. Her list of website resources is also very nice.

To sum up, the key to a good search engine ranking is building a good website. Design with the user in mind, providing quality content and simple navigation, and the spiders wil reward you. As Thurow says, "building a site for your target audience and following search engine best practices is one of the most cost-effective components of a search engine marketing campaign".