The SEO Lemming's guide to Ranking Analysis and SEO

Preamble:

A while back some coworkers of mine came to me and suggested that, as I was new to SEO, I should follow in the footsteps of so many SEO neophytes and write a blog post going over the difficulties I’ve been having. I agreed.

You know how this goes, neophyte reads SEOmoz, he reads sugarrae, he reads blue hat SEO, he downloads Ideavirus onto his ipod so he can read it on the bus and look like a total jackass. He googles every combination of SEO, Guide and, futilely, “Not Crap”, and giving up on that he returns to link building pet sites. He leaves the office at the end of the day overwrought with the desire to buy a chihuahua and wrap it in a miniature American flag. Then he realizes that he is Canadian, and feels confused.

But the fruit of much effort and avoidance of pet websites is here in the beginning of my SEO learning process. A guide for people like me who need to be directed. The SEO lemmings Guide to Ranking Analysis.

Introduction:

The Issue:
How do you handle the realization that a once proud SEO achievement has been over shined by an even better SEO effort? Lets say you have a client trying to rank for the term ‘maui homes’. Maybe he was once ranked first, then dropped. “Whatever,” you think, “there’s always some one out there who can get ahead in a single term”. Then you find you’ve dropped some more. Ouch.

I find the K

Cardinal Path