Disclosure: Hobo Web uses generative AI when specifically writing about our own experiences, ideas, stories, concepts, tools, tool documentation or research. Our tool of choice for this process is Google Gemini Pro 2.5 Deep Research. This assistance helps ensure our customers have clarity on everything we are involved with and what we stand for. It also ensures that when customers use Google Search to ask a question about Hobo Web software, the answer is always available to them, and it is as accurate and up-to-date as possible. All content was verified as correct. See our AI policy. Between 2009-2025, I wrote and published a series of ebooks about SEO. In this post, Gemini analyses them, relying on the prompt: “Review the SEO ebooks that Shaun Anderson of Hobo Web published and track their evolution over time. Judge how useful they were at the time of publishing, and how useful they are now. Rate out of 5 on each aspect.“
Here is a comparative summary table of all the Hobo SEO ebooks, outlining their value at the time of publishing, their relevance now, and their core contribution to the evolution of SEO strategy.
These ebooks are 100% free. All ebooks are available to download as PDFs.
| Ebook Edition | Usefulness at Time of Publication | Current Usefulness (2025) | Core Contribution |
| Guide To Google SEO: V1 | 4.5 / 5 | 2.5 / 5 | 2009: A foundational, tactical guide to the mechanics of a PageRank-centric Google. Demystified core concepts like PageRank (“heat” metaphor) for a generation of SEOs. |
| Beginner’s Guide to SEO 2013 / Beginner’s Guide to SEO 2015 / UK SEO – A Beginner’s Guide 2016 | 4.5 / 5 | 3.5 / 5 | 2013-2015-2016: Essential survival manuals for the post-Panda/Penguin era. Codified the new discipline of link risk management (audits, Disavow tool) and site-wide quality. |
| UK SEO – A Beginner’s Guide 2018: V5 | 5 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 | 2018: The definitive guide to the user-centric mandate. Masterfully translated abstract concepts like E-A-T and user intent (“The Long Click“) into a durable, actionable framework. Watch the Hobo SEO Ebook 2018 video overview. |
| Strategic SEO 2025: V1 | 5 / 5 | 5 / 5 | 2025: A revolutionary, evidence-based playbook for the post-leak world. Replaced speculation with a concrete model of Google’s core ranking systems (T*, Q*, Navboost). Listen to the Hobo Strategic SEO 2025 Audio overview. |
| Strategic AiSEO 2025: V1 | 5 / 5 | 5 / 5 | 2025: The essential operational manual for the AI-first world. Introduced Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), the “Marketing Cyborg Technique,” and the strategy of creating a “Canonical Source of Ground Truth” to manage a brand’s digital reality. Be the first to listen to Strategic AiSEO 2025. |
Students of Google SEO can download the Hobo Web SEO Ebooks for free.
The author, Shaun Anderson of Hobo (me), has over 20 years of experience in SEO.
The Hobo SEO ebook series is a collection of (sometimes) meandering notes on practising search engine optimisation.
These books touch on some of the most important challenges that professional SEO face.
This free book has lots of recommendations direct from Google spokespeople and includes links to important research, news, important Google Webmaster Guidelines, and Quality Rating Criteria Google uses to rank web pages.
There are no black hat SEO practices in these ebooks.
The books focus on white hat SEO (tactics that focus on building high-quality websites that comply with Google Webmaster Guidelines).
Disclaimer: These are offered free. Consider the ebooks pre-2018 for historical purposes. There are no guarantees or warranties. Use at your own risk. Get up-to-date information about SEO in the Hobo SEO tutorial.