I asked 12 SEOs to tell us what’s on their bookshelves.
Here’s what they said:
Authors: Stephan Spencer, Eric Enge, Jessica Stricchiola
First published: 6 November 2009
Recommended from: Aleyda Solis
For this reason Aleyda recommended this book:
“I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn SEO from scratch or gain insight into a specific area of SEO. It is the most comprehensive SEO book on the market!”
author: Eli Schwartz
First published: 27 April 2021
Recommended from: Gus Pelogia, Philipp Götza, Patrick Stox
That’s why Gus recommended this book:
“I read Product-Led SEO before I started working in product development and now I’m reading it again. This book takes you out of the SEO shell and talks about strategy and approach to SEO versus tactics.
It takes you outside of the usual SEO approach (e.g. we need more keywords) and gives examples of how companies can approach SEO as a holistic strategy. It’s also an easy and quick read, I found myself nodding as I read it.”
author: Tim Soulo, Joshua Hardwick, Patrick Stox
First published: January 1, 2023
Recommended from: Patrick Stox
That’s why Patrick recommended this book:
“The Ahrefs SEO Book for Beginners is the perfect read for new SEOs. It’s straightforward and contains all the actionable information you need to succeed.”
author: James Victor
First published: 5 March 2019
Recommended from: Daniel Taylor
That’s why Dan recommended this book:
“I think Feck Perfuction is a must-read for anyone who wants to recharge and is open to changing things up and standing out. It’s thought-provoking and I’ve found that it helps you better understand the flaws in things and turn them into reverse weaknesses. It also helps you communicate complex SEO topics better and not just resort to ‘it depends’.”
While it’s not a step-by-step guide, Victore encourages a mindset shift that supports the development of marketing that resonates with your audience.”
author: Jason Barnard
First published: 11 January 2022
Recommended from: Michal Pecanek
For this reason, Michal recommended this book:
“I believe that proper integration of SEO with brand management has taken on a whole new meaning with the widespread adoption of generative AI tools. Do you want ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google’s AIOs to feature your brand and products on a regular basis? Instead, focus on reputation management, entity SEO and building a strong brand.
Jason’s pen name is The Brand SERP Guy – that says it all. I like that his book is useful for SEOs of all levels, as this is an often overlooked discipline. If you’re a pro, you can skip straight to the insights and tips. I read most of the book because it’s a quick read anyway. It should be required reading for anyone serious about building their online presence.”
author: Ryan Stewart
First published: 26 February 2020
Recommended from: Joshua Hardwick
This is why Joshua recommended this book:
“What I like most about this book is how practical it is. Ryan shows you how to actually manage an SEO project for clients (or your own website) and provides the spreadsheets/processes he uses for free for you to follow along. It could probably use an update, as it was last updated in 2020, but it’s still a great book for anyone who wants to learn how to actually do SEO and not just get bogged down in theory.”
author: Chet Holmes
First published: 27 May 2008
Recommended from: Glen Allsopp
That’s why Glen recommended this book:
“The book has a lot of great pages, but I particularly fell in love with a concept that Chet calls ‘Dream 100.’ The idea is to build relationships with the Dream 100 people who could influence your business, whether they be potential customers, people who could promote your creation, etc.
Showing appreciation to people from the start – even though they probably have no say in what I do online – is something I’ve always tried to do and believed in, so that’s what I could relate to the most.
Chet helped me systematize this process and make it proactive rather than reactive and spontaneous. The relationships I built have been critical to many of the companies I work for, and I love that the book provides a number of concrete examples of how Chet himself has leveraged these relationships along the way.”
author: Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld
First published: 27 November 2006
Recommended from: Maria Amelie White
For this reason Maria recommended this book:
“This book is one of my favorites because it delves into the science of organizing and structuring content on a website. It examines essential components such as organizational systems, labeling, navigation, and search, and offers theoretical insights and practical techniques. The book also presents several examples where the principles of some concepts are still important, even though they are based on old websites.
This book is crucial for search engine optimization (SEO) because a well-crafted and organized information architecture directly affects the crawlability and user experience of a site.
Organizing content and pages logically ensures that search engines can understand that content more easily, resulting in better visibility in search results.
In addition, clear navigation and labeling improve user engagement, reduce bounce rates, and improve rankings. This book is indispensable for optimizing the technical and user-facing aspects of SEO and a must-read for SEO newbies.”
author: Andreas Voniatis
First published: March 25, 2023
Recommended from: James Flint
This is why James recommended this book:
“It’s a great book if you already know a little Python and want to improve your SEO skills. It gets straight to the point and straight to the point. Andreas has done a great job of bringing these two areas together and offers a great practical approach throughout.”
author: Tim Soulo, Sam Oh
First published: 2023
Recommended from: Theo Haines, 3 years old ¼
This is why Theo White Haired SEO recommended:
“It’s a beautiful book because it’s about the thrushes – that’s my favorite part. I like the part where she chases the thrushes away… I like how the book flies into the library!”
author: Paddy Moogan
First published: 2013
Recommended from: Chris Haines
I recommended this book for the following reasons:
“As a junior SEO in 2013, I found this book helpful in my work. Back then, there was no book that told you everything you needed to know about link building, but this book filled the gap.
Since it was recently updated and made available online for free HereI picked up the book again over ten years later and still found useful information that made me think about link building from a different perspective.”
author: Dixon Jones
First published: 1 September 2021
Recommended from: Louise Linehan
This is why Louise recommended this book:
“Even though I’ve been familiar with (and writing about) entities and semantic SEO for a number of years, I still learned a lot from this book. Dixon Jones provides a thorough historical explanation of how search engines were able to decipher entities, which must have taken a lot of time to research. I was particularly surprised by how much Google relies on Wikipedia data and human input to identify and categorize entities. I knew Wikipedia played a role in this, but I didn’t realize the full extent.
The book also reminded me of the importance of entity SEO in building an authoritative brand, and I picked up some great practical tips, like using Google’s Knowledge Graph and Structured Data tools to research (and replicate) top competitors’ entities – a tactic I’d never considered before. The detailed historical context, coupled with useful, practical advice, definitely made the book a worthwhile read.”
Final thoughts
If you want to learn SEO from scratch, you can choose randomly from thousands of online articles, or you can select a single book from this list – for example, our SEO book for beginners. Both options will get you started on SEO, but in my opinion, an SEO book is usually the best place to start if you want a solid foundation in SEO or are looking for a more in-depth opinion on a particular topic.
Once you understand the basics, you can start reading the regular SEO updates online or reading more specialized books from your favorite SEOs on this list.
Want to share what SEO books you’re reading? Let me know on LinkedIn.
