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Figure 1-1

The less obvious effect of the search engine explosion phenomenon is that web developers are now

directly involved in the search engine marketing process. To rank well in these organic results, it may not

be enough to “write relevant content,” as your typical search engine marketing tutorial drones. Rather,

the web application developer must work together with the marketing team, and he or she must build a

web site fully aware that certain features or technologies may interfere with a search engine marketing

campaign. An improperly designed web site can interfere with a search engine’s need to periodically

navigate and index the information contained therein. In the worst case, the search engine may not be

able to index the content at all.

So, ironically, while users are becoming less interested in understanding the structure of data on the

Internet, the structure of a web site is becoming an increasingly important facet in search engine mar-

keting! This structure — the architecture of a web site — is the primary focus of this book.

We hope that this brief introduction whets your appetite! The remainder of this chapter tells you what

to expect from this book. You will also configure your development machine to ensure you won’t have

any problems following the technical exercises in the later chapters.

Who Are You?

Maybe you’re a great programmer or IT professional, but marketing isn’t your thing. Or perhaps you’re a

tech-savvy search engine marketer who wants a peek under the hood of a search engine optimized web

site. Search engine marketing is a field where technology and marketing are both critical and interdepend-

ent, because small changes in the implementation of a web site can make you or break you in search engine

rankings. Furthermore, the fusion of technology and marketing know-how can create web site features that

attract more visitors.

The

raison d’etre

of this book is to help web developers create web sites that rank well with the major search

engines, and to teach search engine marketers how to use technology to their advantage. We assert that nei-

ther marketing nor IT can exist in a vacuum, and it is essential that they not see themselves as opposing

forces in an organization. They

must

work together. This book aims to educate both sides in that regard.

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Chapter 1: You: Programmer and Search Engine Marketer

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