The SEO Blueprint vs Ultimate Guide to Link Building: a full agency process or a link prospecting method

Quick answer

Both books came out in early 2020 and both assume you know the basics, but they differ in scope. Ryan Stewart and David Krevitt’s The SEO Blueprint (self-published, February 2020) is a full agency process: keywords, content decisions, audits, page prioritization and some link decisions. Garrett French and Eric Ward’s Ultimate Guide to Link Building (2nd edition, January 2020) goes deep on one discipline: finding link opportunities and building an outreach prospect list. If you want a whole workflow, read The SEO Blueprint; if links are your bottleneck, read French and Ward.

What each book is about

The SEO Blueprint: How to Get More Organic Traffic Right NOW is a 275-page paperback by Ryan Stewart and David Krevitt, self-published in February 2020. It is not Glen Allsopp’s SEO Blueprint course or other books with the same title. Open Library record. The book is built on the workflow of Stewart’s former agency, WEBRIS, which the description says was acquired after about ten years of client work; Julia McCoy wrote the foreword. No public table of contents was found. The retailer description lists choosing and qualifying keywords, using competitor pages to rank for more terms, deciding what content to write, which pages not to build links to, site auditing with a list of errors that block page-one rankings, prioritizing high-potential pages and site structure for head terms. Retailer description.

Ultimate Guide to Link Building is by Garrett French and Eric Ward. Entrepreneur Press lists the second edition for January 2020, with ISBN 9781599186481 for the paperback. Publisher catalogue, page 31. An authorized excerpt begins with terms that define a market and uses them to locate different kinds of opportunities, such as expert interviews, resource curators and sites accepting relevant contributions. It also discusses finding existing interviews and developing a new group interview from that research. Second-edition excerpt.

Where they differ

Scope. The SEO Blueprint covers a whole workflow, from keyword choice to auditing and site structure. Links appear in its description as decisions within that workflow, such as which pages not to build links to. French and Ward give the whole book to links, and specifically to prospecting: which people and publications in a market might have a reason to reference your material.

Where they meet. Both deal with links, from different ends. The Blueprint’s description is about where links should point; French and Ward’s excerpt is about where links can come from. A practitioner could use one to decide targets and the other to find sources.

Publisher and evidence. Ultimate Guide to Link Building has a publisher catalogue entry and an authorized excerpt you can read free. The SEO Blueprint is self-published with no public contents; its scope comes from direct-response retailer copy, and its promised tools and templates could not be confirmed as still available.

Same era. Both date from early 2020. Check The SEO Blueprint’s checklists and tool references against current Google guidance, and check outreach tactics from either book against Google’s current link spam policy.

A third option for AI search

Neither book covers how a business shows up in AI answers; both predate current AI search. If that is your question, AI SEO for Dummies is a 2026 Wiley For Dummies title on visibility in AI-powered search, including AEO and GEO. It is beginner-friendly and step by step, Wiley names business owners, marketers and SEO professionals as its readers, and a free companion toolkit includes a quickstart checklist, a First 30 Days worksheet and trackers, with no email required. It is not a link-building book and does not replace an SEO process.

Disclosure: Top SEO Books is owned by Nathan Gotch, author of AI SEO for Dummies. How we handle this relationship.

Which should you read?

• If you know SEO basics and want an agency’s order of operations for keywords, content and audits, read The SEO Blueprint.
• If you want to audit and prioritize an existing site, The SEO Blueprint is the closer match.
• If you struggle to find sites that might link to you, read Ultimate Guide to Link Building, starting with the free excerpt.
• If you run outreach or digital PR and need a repeatable prospecting process, French and Ward is the closer subject match.
• If you want both, use The SEO Blueprint as the overall workflow and Ultimate Guide to Link Building when you reach the link-acquisition step.

For other options, see The SEO Blueprint alternatives, Ultimate Guide to Link Building alternatives, The Art of SEO vs Ultimate Guide to Link Building or the advanced SEO reading guide.