Brian Dean as far as I know didn't invent anything I listed above, with the exception I think of coming up with a name for the skyscraper technique. He has however done a great job over the years of collecting various tactics, strategies and research methods and publishing them in a nice digestible format.
I've been in the space since 2009 and most of what I know I learned via trial and error, just setting up test sites to see what works (see my linked video from 2011 for more on that). That said there is a really nice community in the SEO space with people eager to share whats worked for them or put their own spin on widely adopted tactics and strategies.
Off the top of my head I'd recommend Ahrefs (both their blog as well as their YouTube channel), Backlinko (that'd be Brian Dean), SEO by the Sea (mostly digging into google patents and trying to understand their implications for search), Moz, anything by Nick Eubanks, Cyrus Shepard, ViperChill, Ross Hudgens, Garret French or Jon Cooper.
One thing to keep in mind is a lot of stuff goes out of fashion pretty quickly. If you are reading a post about SEO from a few years ago, double check to make sure its still in line with best practices and effective. If it seems like a short-term tactic it's probably best avoided regardless. And above all else, don't assume because some SEO Guru said a thing is a thing that it is indeed a thing. Test everything. Google doesn't give a manual for how to rank and they make changes to the algorithm regularly, so everyone is making educated guesses. There are many schools of thought inside the SEO industry. When in doubt, test it out.
Thank you for the insights! One last question if you don't mind..
Have you ever paid for buying links? I know it is against Google's policy but SEO companies I talked to before I decided to learn it myself told me that 18 out of 100 links are paid links (with maybe 2 free links as every SEO guy is doing broken lb, etc so free links are mostly taken). They said they can even get me links from some pretty big sites if I had the budget for it.
I've been in the space since 2009 and most of what I know I learned via trial and error, just setting up test sites to see what works (see my linked video from 2011 for more on that). That said there is a really nice community in the SEO space with people eager to share whats worked for them or put their own spin on widely adopted tactics and strategies.
Off the top of my head I'd recommend Ahrefs (both their blog as well as their YouTube channel), Backlinko (that'd be Brian Dean), SEO by the Sea (mostly digging into google patents and trying to understand their implications for search), Moz, anything by Nick Eubanks, Cyrus Shepard, ViperChill, Ross Hudgens, Garret French or Jon Cooper.
One thing to keep in mind is a lot of stuff goes out of fashion pretty quickly. If you are reading a post about SEO from a few years ago, double check to make sure its still in line with best practices and effective. If it seems like a short-term tactic it's probably best avoided regardless. And above all else, don't assume because some SEO Guru said a thing is a thing that it is indeed a thing. Test everything. Google doesn't give a manual for how to rank and they make changes to the algorithm regularly, so everyone is making educated guesses. There are many schools of thought inside the SEO industry. When in doubt, test it out.