millions of web sites out there. So how do you become number one and
stay there consistently?



Consistently is the key word here. Sure, you may apply the newest, best
trick in the book today, but when someone else comes out with a better
one tomorrow, you will be scrambling to get to the top again. One of the
keys is to be well-rounded. There are many books and philosophies about
web rankings that are floating around. Some people say article marketing
is the way to go, others link building, others say you have to maximize
your web pages for the search engines.



You have to get all your keywords right and your titles and description.
But what happens when another web site does you one better in that area?
Now you drop in rank. Therefore, it is more important that you do a good
job in all the areas than to be the very best in one area. And it is OK
to be number 8 or number 3 in rank, also. If you are in the very top
spot and you are clicked simply because the top spot gets more clicks,
are you really going to get more sales just because you are number one?



Your product and site have to be relevant to the consumer, not just the
search engine. Another key is to focus on very specific keywords. You
can do an awesome job in every area of search engine optimization, but
if you go too thin here, you will not make it to number one in any of
your keywords. Focus on one, or at the most, two keywords. Build your
site around those keywords. Be everything you can be to someone who keys
in those keywords. Or better yet, one keyword. Would you rather have one
keyword that has a number one placement, or 8 keywords with a number 40
placement each?. It would be better to have one keyword for which your
site is on the first page of results than twenty that are all over the
place. Build yourself a web site that has a strong keyword density-for
one or two keywords. Put those keywords in your title and description
and keyword lists.



You must have incoming links. You must have quality incoming links. You
must build incoming links one link at a time. Links are very important,
but you cannot cheat in this area. You must build them one by one. Some
of the favorite methods of link building is to write articles, like this
one, and submit them to article directories, and to be included in link
directories. Stay away from link farms, large link exchanges, or
anything of the sort. The major search engines want to see you build a
steady supply of links over time. What do you think a search engine will
do for you when you go from 0 links to 3000 in one day? That won't get
you to number one, and certainly won't keep you there, when you are put
in the sandbox for six months. These keys to search engine optimization
are just a beginning. You need traffic, you need click-thrus in the
search engine results. You need visitors to stay at your site for more
than a few seconds when they click in. How do you get that? Build real
content. Build it for people, not machines--while following the first
three keys. Do that, and I believe that in three to six months you will
have each web site you set up with this strategy, in the top ten for
your keyword.



Now that you understand why search engine rankings are so important you
might wonder how to achieve these rankings. The algorithms used by
search engines can be rather complex and include a number of different
factors. Some of the common factors in the equation include keyword
density, META tags, titles, inbound links, website traffic and content.

Keyword density refers to the number of times a particular keyword is
used in the content of your website. The theory behind this concept is
that websites that use a particular keyword often are likely to be
relevant to that keyword; however, overuse of that keyword may result in
penalties if the search engine thinks the keywords are not being used
appropriately.

META tags are pieces of HTML code which some search engines use in
evaluating the content of a website. Placing keywords in these tags can
be beneficial in some search engines. However, care should be taken to
avoid placing irrelevant keywords in these tags as this may result in
your website being penalized.

Some search engines to rank websites also use inbound links. Inbound
links refers to links on other websites which point to your website. In
evaluating the worth of these inbound links, some search engines
consider the rank of the website providing the link to your website.
This means you should try to gain links from websites with higher
rankings than your own to ensure that you receive the most benefit from
these links.

Labels: seo tips