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SEO Fitness Workbook, 2016 Edition: The Seven Steps to Search Engine Optimization Success on Google

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ONLY buy this edition if assigned in a university course! While many books on SEO sell for $2.99 or are even free, the SEO FITNESS WORKBOOK is priced at $29.99. It's worth it. Here's why -Please 'Look inside' other books on SEO on Amazon, and PLEASE read the reviews! Compare the reviews of those books with the reviews of the SEO FITNESS WORKBOOK. Many of the books on Amazon, unfortunately, are just junk put up quickly to make a quick buck. The SEO Fitness Workbook , in contrast, is built upon years of real experience, and the teaching methodology of Jason McDonald, used in his classes in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Stanford University's Continuing Studies program. It's in-depth, and supported by facts and real experience.The author, Jason McDonald, has instructed thousands of people in his classes in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Stanford Continuing Studies, as well as online. Jason speaks in simple English and uses the metaphor of “The Seven Steps to SEO Fitness” to explain to you how to 'get SEO fit.'Check out the other SEO Books - SEO For Dummies , SEO an Hour a Day , etc., - they're great, they're good, but they don't include powerful step-by-step worksheets, links to online videos, and the free SEO Toolbook with hundreds of free tools for search engine optimization 2015. Buy the 'free' or .99 cent books on search engine optimization, and compare them with the SEO FITNESS WORKBOOK. You get what you pay for.

159 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 9, 2010

256 people are currently reading
167 people want to read

About the author

Jason McDonald

41 books16 followers
Jason's books focus on SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Social Media Marketing, and Google Ads - the three pillars of digital marketing. He is founder and Senior SEO / Social Media Director of the JM Internet Group. He also teaches for Stanford University (Continuing Studies). Dr. McDonald received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1992 and his BA from Harvard University in 1985. Dr. McDonald is AdWords certified. Got a question? Just Google 'Jason McDonald,' - he's there at the top. Then visit his website and send him a question. Jason answers questions from readers every day.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for Jennifer Villa.
116 reviews1 follower
December 18, 2017
As an active SEO strategist for a marketing company, a lot of these concepts were beginner level. I’d recommend this book for someone just learning about it! I did find some new tools and useful concepts gleaning through here. His videos are very helpful and add some dimension, making this feel like a real course. Worth the read to keep focused and fresh in the industry!
Profile Image for Amin Rezaei.
31 reviews2 followers
August 7, 2018
Appearance:  pretty large and heavy book with large enough font that I could read it without my readers. it has great quality of paper, Black and white printing, while the colors of screenshots has been mentioned  afew times and they were not recognizable. (ebook available on author website)
I found it a little difficult to hold in my hand and carrying it with no bag, (especially for ladies with purse). it took 3 days part-time to read it since I'm a full-time employee.

Content: I used to blog, web developing and with social media marketing 3 to 4 years ago and its why I was so excited for receiving this book in exchange of my honest review, but after reading it I notice how fast paced digital world is and how important is to keep yourself updated. As I expected a pretty informative and helpful book in world of online business which I believe everyone should read. 

Author begins with introduction of SEO and comparing it as FITNESS or JOB, for newbies to make it a lot easier to understand, i.e. SEO is like getting a job it has job desired (your keywords), its resume (your website), its references (your inbound links) and its job interview (your website landing).
Author is mentioning the importance of keywords in SEO at the beginning till the end of the book and once he rejects the idea that says keywords are dead just because of voice searches. I've learned we have different type of keywords and how and where to use them to get a better SEO result.

Author mentioned that SEO is free which I don't agree (I'm not a pro) especially if you want to be on the top result of google search and beat your competitors, you'll need an RWD theme and an SEO plugin, etc. which you can use their free version but for a better result and get rid of irrelevant ads in your control panel you need to purchase their professional or premium versions.

For example, he mentions Yoast SEO plugins which will cost you $89 per website per year. in page 58 he suggested you, to use keyword planner and sign up at Google Adwords (AdWords is now Google Ads) and invest no more than $300 per month to find relevant keywords and after a few months you can de-activate your campaigns, on the other hand he introduced a lot of other sources to how to identify your competitor keywords or how to reverse engineering their website which I found pretty helpful especially for ecommerce websites.

You can find a lot of links and introducing of Authors services and webiste to go to and download worksheets or watch his videos to understand the content better, which is most of the time really helpful but when it comes BOLD in the middle of content it's just distracting and not interesting. (just a personal preference). he aslo asks to visit his website and sign up to GET access to paid and FREE Stuff on SEO / Social Media / AdWords. (highly recommended).

Beside his websites links, Author introduced a lot of other websites, SEO sources and their free and paid services which I found really helpful and I'll one the users who will use those websites.

You can find some sort of customer experience tips also such as how customers are busy and don't let them think then some tips to better design your websites, or how to react to Negative Reviews from your customers along with tips how appropriately you may ask your customers or clients for a positive review on social media.

I’d like to thank Jason McDonald Ph.D. and Gloria McNabb Marketing Manager for providing me a copy of this book in exchange of an honest and unbiased feedback for the book. 
I also write my reviews on 3ee, Amazon, Book Review communities and social media. highly recommended. http://3ee.info/seo-fitness-workbook/
4 reviews
January 11, 2018
This book filled in gaps I never knew existed.

I've been in digital marketing for 23 years and decided to brush up on SEO. I thought I'de pick up some new tips and deepen my knowledge in a different way than the day to day skimming of current articles and blogs. I was wrong. This book and its approach completely reframed how I think of digital marketing as a whole. Instead of trying to be really good at the most current digital marketing techniques, I'm building everything off of the question. That question being, what are people asking. While I've used pretty much everything covered in this book at some capacity, it wasn't until going through the comprehensive journey this workbook takes you on that I discovered how the nuances of what I didn't know added up to ground breaking enlightenment.

Great for beginners but don't underestimate what it brings to those who believe they know most of what's out there.
37 reviews
March 13, 2019
Loistava kirja, jos haluaa saada nopean käsityksen Hakukoneoptimoinnista. Kirja on kirjoitettu aloitteleville, mutta asiat on kerrottu hyvin selvästi. Toki itse en ole aivan polun alussa, niin tästä oli vielä enemmän hyötyä. Äänikirjan mukaan tulee hyvät materiaalit mukaan. Itse tyyppi on hiukan kummallinen ja verkkosivut vaikuttavat vitsiltä, mutta aikaiseksi kaveri on saanut.
Profile Image for Nataliya Stelmakh.
61 reviews10 followers
January 27, 2018
I read the 2018 version & it's quite good with lots of insights. I am not a newbie to Search engine optimization & works with Pros for my site, yet found good tricks here! Recommend to those who want to rank top-3 in Google searches
Profile Image for David Whited.
20 reviews
August 11, 2019
I’m sure there is lots of good information but jockeying around between the book, links to his website and links to his videos make this book very complicated and difficult to follow. The book is more self promotion for the author than a self help for the reader.
2 reviews1 follower
December 13, 2019
Excellent SEO Playbook

Terrific reference guide with examples and supplemental material to help drill down into critical topics. Logical sequencing of steps and nice sense of humor throughout. Look forward to reading more of Jason’s work.
Profile Image for Diana Muresan.
39 reviews1 follower
May 4, 2017
Very easy to read and understand-so much better than reading a dry technical book. He has a gift communicating through his casual writing style. Very helpful practical tips throughout the book.
Profile Image for Heather Lenz.
Author 22 books54 followers
May 30, 2017
This is an excellent workbook with beginning action steps toward improved SEO. I highly recommend!
Profile Image for Ivan Webb.
1 review
February 12, 2018
Informative

Necessary torture for anyone that wants to transcend their website into a more efficient useful tool to capture more leads and grow said business.
Profile Image for Andres Munoz.
23 reviews3 followers
May 17, 2018
Now its time for a second read-through but putting everything in action as I go
2 reviews
September 29, 2018
Great Book

As a person not knowing a lot about SEO this book has given me more than enough information to with. Already planning to redo my website, this time as it should be!
78 reviews1 follower
December 25, 2018
It's a very good book to help me rely on myself and find a better position in my company
2 reviews
January 3, 2020
A complicated subject broken down!

I really feel this book has helped me begin my website optimization journey! I look forward to beginning the work suggested.
Profile Image for Ken Lenoir.
79 reviews11 followers
February 17, 2017
Comprehensive dive into SEO and internet marketing

Why did I choose this book? Because I must Master SEO and local SEO and local business lead generation online. It had some great reviews and when I looked at the table of contents is seemed to be a good choice to read.

What was my experience with reading? I enjoyed the attitude chapter and basically all the chapters. The author has a good authoritative voice which elicits Trust. I don't think there is much missing from this book.

For the on-page SEO I would have preferred a bit more Technical and specific examples how to optimize but I figured it out.

I will also use many of the worksheets and references many times over the coming months until SEO Fitness 2018 comes out.

Would I recommend this book to others? I certainly will recommend it to the people I work with and if anyone wants to learn SEO I would recommend it to them as one of the first choices.
Profile Image for Adam.
295 reviews25 followers
December 22, 2017
Very much an introduction to SEO rather than a deep dive. Audio perhaps isn't the best medium to dig deep into such a visual, text-based topic.
Profile Image for Surreptitious Bookworm.
161 reviews
March 18, 2018
Actually read the 2018 edition but this is not up here. I got what I needed to get out of it I think. It’s more built for businesses than for bloggers like me and I rarely used the worksheets. I think this is invaluable for businesses and is written in an easy to understand language not the technical jargon you usually get.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews

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