Search Engine Optimization: Put your web site to work

How many searches have you done on Google in the last three weeks? How many times did you look beyond the first page of results? If you’re like most web surfers, you answered “lots,” and “zero.”

Most of us never look beyond the first page, and very few ever go beyond the third page. That means if you aren’t getting top 10 positioning for your search terms, your web site is virtually invisible.

The problem, of course, is that every web site owner wants to rank in the top 10, so how do you make your site rank higher than the others?

First, you have to know the main factors that affect search engine ranking:

1. Longevity - the longer your site is active, the more established and legitimate you appear to search engines. Of course, you can’t time travel back to 1997 and set up your web site, but if you could, it would help.
2. Domain name expiration date – The Internet is rife with scammers, spammers, and domain squatters who register domains for the one year minimum, do their dirty work, then move on to other domains. Because of this, search engines give preference to domains that are registered farther into the future. When search engines index a site whose expiration is years away, they rank it as higher quality. Renewing your domain right now for two years or more is by far the easiest way to improve your ranking.
3. Traffic - This one is a Catch-22. The more traffic your site gets, the more search engines rank it favorably. And the more favorably it’s ranked, the more traffic you’ll get. The problem, of course, is getting more traffic while your site isn’t ranked in the top 10.
4. Inbound links – If your site contains useful information, then you can expect other web sites to link to your content. Search engines look at both the quantity and quality of inbound links to adjust your site’s ranking. All links are not created equal; a link from a recognized authority site is going to help you immensely. A link from some unrelated site that’s just a page of links can actually harm you.
5. Frequency of updates – Adding content on a regular basis shows your site is active. This is why blogging is so beneficial to search engine performance. Remember, in most cases you want to add pages and not remove content that has already been indexed.
6. Titles, headings, and meta tags – The words that are chosen here should contain the phrases your customers would be most likely to use if they were searching for your products and services.
7. Content - While being interesting to visitors and staying on point with your marketing message, the text on the each page should be written to contain applicable keywords and phrases. The page content should also be in line with the page title and meta tags.