Webmasters always strive to get to the top of the organic listings in a search related to their subject matter. At the very worst, they will try their very best not to get demoted to the second page. That is because statistics show that an overwhelming majority of people will not bother going beyond the first entry or first few pages of results perhaps for fear of encountering some unknown virus.
If you own a business website, the need for you to get it somewhere near the top of the first page in Google or some other search engine is imperative for you to get new clients as well as to be found by your current ones. What do you need to do in order to achieve this?
1 - The first thing you can do is to submit your website to an SEO analysis program. These are programs that show the very same statistical data that your search engine uses to interpret or evaluate your page ranking. An SEO professional will have these tools on his laptop. However, you yourself may avail of these services on the internet. The more advanced ones require you to pay but for basic information the service is free. Search for 'SEO analyser' or 'meta tag analyzer' in your favorite search engine to access these sites.
2 - Look for keywords that offer less competition. If you consult a keyword search tool (Google the term) you can type in a key phrase and you will be shown the number of times those words have been typed into the search in a month. The higher the count, the more competition you stand to get by using that as your keyword. Consequently you have less chance of dominating the results.
3 - Establish links with all the top search engines, not just Google. This is because they also count a lot for raising your page ranking due to the influx of visitors coming in through those search engines.
4 - The following are some secrets that you should know about link building.
A -There are 'do follow' and 'no-follow' links. 'No follow' links do not add to the page ranking of the page they are directed to. The opposite is true for 'do follow' links. How to identify? While on the page, click on the 'View' menu of the browser and select 'Source Code' or something similar to that. You will see the HTML of the page. Look for the phrase 'linkrel.' This word is followed by an equal sign and another word. The last word can be 'do follow' or 'no follow.'
B - Be among the first hundred to make a comment and link to your site. Google usually doesn't follow links after the 100th has been established.
C - The page you are establishing the back link from has to be cached by Google. You will need to research this. Search engines sometimes bypass the links after the fifth page.
D - Use your keywords in the links you make from article submission sites. This is the text that is specified as Place your text here in sites that allow you to do HTML code in your article. Alternatively, this is the text of the link itself when the article is published. Search engines attach value to these links.
One important thing to remember is that the most stable rankings are earned through hard work. While an SEO expert may get you to a top position artificially. He can keep you up there only for some time.
Another thing to avoid is the use of 'Black Hat' or illegal techniques of SEO. You can end up with a website that the search engine will ignore forever whatever you do. You may even be penalized.