I am often asked questions like how can I test my sites performance, or search engine readiness, or is there a good book on Google. In my job I have to remain impartial and therefore cannot recommend any one site or book, however the following is a list of sites that personally I visit and books that I have read.

Search Engine Simulators
http://tools.summitmedia.co.uk/spider
http://www.seomoz.org/tools

Search Term Check
http://www.seomoz.org/tools
http://www.rankpilot.com/
http://www.spannerworks.com/seotoolkit.0.html
http://www.marketleap.com

Keyword Tools

https://adwords.google.co.uk/select/KeywordToolExternal?defaultView=2

http://www.wordtracker.co.uk/

Link Popularity
http://www.linkpopularity.com /

Page & Visitor Tracking
http://www.google.co.uk/analytics/
http://www.clicktracks.com

Others

Use It – Jakob Nielsen (the godfather of usability) outspoken views on web design, which are typically based on his user research. http://www.useit.com/alertbox

UIE – Jared Spool’s User Interface Engineering articles provide good best practice summary articles. http://www.uie.com/articles

Colours explained: http://www.uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000069.php

Web Fonts explained: http://www.sitepoint.com/article/anatomy-web-fonts

Small selection of interesting web design, usability, and accessibility related results of research: http://meiert.com/en/blog/20070113/web-design-15-important-research-findings-you-should-know/

Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html

User Testing Tips: http://www.sensible.com/secondedition/index.html

See Microsoft live usability review: http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-09-19-n52.html

UsabilityNet A portal about usability with good links to other sites and an introduction to usability terms and concepts. http://www.usabilitynet.org

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