Search Engine Promotion and Website RankingTips

9 Simple Ways to Improve your Website's Search Engine Ranking

1. Come up with a list of keywords or phrases that describe the products or service your business offers. Try using Overture's keyword suggestion tool in order to find out how popular your potential keywords are. Avoid keyword phrases that are seldom searched, and you may wish to omit keyword phrases that are highly competitive.


2. Incorporate the selected keywords targeted for your business within your website text.


3. Be sure your website designer includes the following META tags for each page in your site.

   			  <META HTTP-EQUIV="Title" NAME="Title" CONTENT="Page Title which includes your keywords (below)">
   			  <META HTTP-EQUIV="Keywords" NAME="Keywords" CONTENT="keyphrases about each page here">
                 <META HTTP-EQUIV="Description" NAME="Description" CONTENT="Describe your site here">
                

   Including keywords in your "Title" is very important to many search engines.


4. Place your keywords in bold format or underlined text. Placement of the keywords can also be important - place them at the top and bottom of each page.


5. Obtain as many "inbound" links to your site. Links from related industries are particular useful. There are several ways to increase links to your website. One way is to submit your site to existing website directories. Many are free, others (Yahoo is $299/year) are not. Check the following websites for possible directories you can submit to:
   
     a)  http://www.isedb.com
     b)  http://directoryarchives.com


6. Targeting a local website traffic? Be certain your business address and location is visible on your site. You can also refer to your location within the text on your website. (i.e. Premiere web design firm located in Connecticut").
   
   Both Google and Yahoo have added a local search capability on there search engine pages. You can currently register you business with both for FREE:
   
     a)  Add your business website to Google Local Search
     b)  Add your business website to Yahoo Local Search
   
   Search engines are positioning themselves against printed yellow page directories. You can probably assume they will begin charging for listings in the future - so place your listing now!



7. Consider writing an online press release. There are several sites that allow you to post your press release information online. Here's a few you can try:
   
     a)   http://www.urlwire.com
     b)   http://www.prweb.com


8. Compose and release an online article or review related to your business. Include a link to your website at the bottom of page. One website that accepts articles submissions is GoArticles.com
9. Domain name up for renewal?It may be wise to renew it for more than 1 year. Spam sites only exist for a short period of time, and it stands to reason the majority of spam sites only reserve a domain name for 1 year. This has sparked a rumor that Google ranks sites that have reserved their domain for more than a year higher than websites that have only reserved their domain for a shorter period.