Improve Rankings With The Top 5 SEO Strategies...

There's a lot of information out there on the Internet about search engine optimization. Some of it is really good but unfortunately much of the information is either totally inaccurate or just plain wrong. I've taken the time to sort through much of this information and provide you with the strategies that get actual results.

By working with literally hundreds of small and medium sized websites, I have found that top ranked sites have a number of factors in common. What are they? I'm about to share these factors with you and explain what separates those in the top Google positions and those that are never found on page one of search results.

The first search engine ranking factor has to do with inbound links. We all know the importance of generating inbound links to your web site or blog. However, these links are only effective if they include your keywords in their anchor text. Links should always include keywords which help search engines identify your website with these links. Make sure to ask link partners to structure their links to your web site properly.

The second most important factor for having high search engine rankings is to include your most important keywords in your meta tags, particularly your title tag. This is one of the key ways that search engines identify your pages and display information on search results. In addition to your title tag, include your keywords in the keywords and description tags as well.

The third ranking factor to consider for your web site is link popularity. This phrase has been talked about in search engine circles for a while but can be equated with Page Rank. The concept of Page rank or link popularity for that matter take a number of factors into consideration to identify the quality of web pages from an external perspective. The largest factor that influences search engine rankings is the number and quality of links that are pointing to a web site or web page.

The fourth ranking factor is the diversity of domains that link to your web site. For many search engines, its not only what links you have to your site but making sure they are from different domains. This represents more popularity associated with you web site and therefore is judged to be a better search result. When link building, try to focus on generating inbound links from different websites.

The fifth ranking factor is placing your keywords in your root domain. If you are unable to acquire a domain that has www.yourkeyword.com as the format, don't despair. You can vary your domain by including words before or after your keyword. Short of being able to acquire such a domain, place your keywords using a subdomain structure or placing a folder on your root domain. This can have a positive impact on your overall rankings.

All of the top five ranking factors will work for you. I have personally seen them dramatically improve rankings for even the smallest web sites. Make sure that you address each factor. In combination, these factors have the most impact. By addressing the top ranking factors for your web site, you'll be able to add additional search engine optimization techniques to ensure top placement over the long term..

Michael Fleischner is the Author of SEO Made Simple and offers SEO training for small and medium sized businesses. Be sure to get free search engine optimization and Internet marketing support at the Internet marketing forum