Saturday, August 8, 2009

How To Take Your Rankings Straight To The Top

By Michael Fleischner

The best thing about Search Engine Optimization is that its largely free. I wouldnt profess that the cost is zero simply because it takes a lot of time to do correctly and time is money. Search Engine Optimization is the development of website rankings for online search engines and keyword search terms. To properly implement a SEO strategy, there are four stages to help manipulate search engine result listings for specific keyword phrases.

Before undergoing any changes to a website, you must determine what keywords people are using to search for your programs. You want keyword terms that are frequently used but have little or no competition from other websites. This improves the chances of increasing web page ranking significantly. Marketing professionals can research possible keywords by talking to current students and using free online tools such as Adwords Tool which provides estimates of search volume and advertising competitiveness.

Before choosing a keyword for search engine optimization purposes, size up your competition. Look at the number one ranked website and learn more about them. Consider the websites age, Page Rank, and number of in-bound links. This can give you a good understanding of how strong a competitor that site is.

Another great way to learn about your competition is with the help of Alexa. Alexa is a website about other websites. Essentially, you can find out a lot about those websites you're trying to outrank by collecting data related to web site age and the number of site's linking in. I only compete with websites that have a small number of competing pages and in bound links. As a result of doing my research and finding the keywords that match this criteria, I almost always achieve number one rankings.

At the point when you've decided which keyword phrase gives you the best chance for success, it's time to start focusing on making your site easy to read and easily navigated by search engine spiders. Consider designing you site with particular attention to navigation, meta tags, headings, keyword density and other on page factors. Once you site is well designed, its time to focus on building links from high authority websites. This signals search engines that your site has important content that delivers value to browsers and therefore improves rankings.

I'm often asked for the most valuable SEO technique that will raise someones search engine rankings above all others. The answer is quite simple, in bound links. Google evaluates the quality of a website based on a variety of factors but the most important include page rank and inbound links. Focus on building inbound links from third party sites that are well established, have a number of sites linking into them, and carry a Google page rank of 3 or more. This will improve your rankings very quickly.

As you focus on SEO your chances of improving rankings increases twofold. Search engine optimization is ideal for anyone who doesn't want to spend a great deal of money on performance based advertising like Google Adwords. Instead of spending cash, spend time and energy on improving organic rankings. Pay attention to on page optimization factors and start researching and contacting other sites for link building. This will enhance website value and improve rankings.

About the Author:

No comments: