The best way to achieve search engine dominance is by focusing on keyword research. As a search engine optimization consultant, I’ve worked with hundreds of companies that miss the important step of keyword research. Achieving top search engine rankings is largely based on the competitiveness of the keyword phrase you are trying to optimize your website for. If your competitor is in the top position with a well entrenched web site, then your chances of out ranking his site may be limited.
In addition to focusing on a keyword phrase that doesn’t have that much competition, you need to find search phrases that are frequently searched on. I recently finished a consulting assignment for a company trying to optimize their website. They had good rankings for a keyword term that seemed to be somewhat desirable. However, keyword research proved that the term received less than one hundred per month. As a result, top rankings for this keyword phrase were nearly meaningless.
Assuming that you have been able to find a keyword phrase that doesn’t have a great deal of competition and generates enough traffic, it’s time to look at your competition. You are competing against other web sites who currently rank in the top few positions for your chosen keyword. Visit each of these top ranked sites to determine their Google page rank, age, and the number of sites linking to them. The more inbound links they have the more difficult they will be to outrank.
After doing your keyword research and confirming your choice of keywords and keyword phrases, it’s time to concentrate on improving your web pages. Enhance your meta tags, titles, and web copy to include your keyword phrases. This helps to tell the search engines what your web site is about so it can rank your site appropriately. In addition to the on page factors, Google weighs off page factors to decide web site ranking. Off page optimization requires a sustained effort that uses new content and additional links from third party websites. The most effective strategies are the most basic. Begin with a link building plan. Focus on article directories, web site directories, blogs, social bookmarking sites, and other resources where you can establish in bound links.
When working to build links to your web site, you should plan to implement link building strategies on a regular basis. Focus on getting authority links from sites within your given niche. You should also be focused on sites that have an established age, Google PR, and other authority attributes. When attracting in bound links, do so in a manner that is slow and steady. Building links too quickly can have a negative impact on your web site as search engines may believe you are arbitrarily building links. Once you’ve determined the right keywords and have taken care of your on-page optimization strategies it’s time to focus on off page strategies to improve rankings.
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