Search Engine Rankings.All of us want to be top for our key phrases but there are millions of websites competing with ours.  So how do you become number one and stay there consistently?Consistency is the key here.OK, you can use the latest, bestest tricks in the book right now but when somebody comes out with a better technique tomorrow you will be left struggling to get to the top once more. 

I think one of the keys is to be well-rounded.There are many books and ideas about web ranking around.  Some people say article marketing is the way to go, others link building, others say you have to maximize your web pages for the search engines.You must get your keywords right as well as the descriptions and titles.What will you do when another site does better than yours in that area?  Now you drop in rank. 

Therefore, I think it is more important that you do a good job in all the areas than to be the very best in one area.I think that it is OK to be not number one in rank, also.  If you are in the very top spot and you are clicked simply because the top spot gets more clicks, are you really going to get more sales just because you are number one?Your site and product need to be attractive to both the search engines AND real people. 

Another key is to focus on very specific keywords.  You can do an awesome job in every area of search engine optimization, but if you go too thin here, you will not make it to number one in any of your keywords.Focus on one, or maybe two keywords, not more.Construct your web pages around those key phrases.Be all that you can be to the person who types in those search terms. 

Or better yet, one keyword.Would you prefer to have one keyword with a top ranking or 10 keywords, each with a 4th page placement?  To me, number 40 is like number 1 million–you don’t get enough clicks to pay the bills.  I would far rather have one keyword for which my site is on the first page of results than twenty that are all over the place.Build a web site that has good keyword density for just a couple of keywords.  Put those keywords in your title and description and keyword lists. 

You must have incoming links.  You must have quality incoming links.You should build backlinks one at a time for best, long term, results.Linking is very important but you must not cheat the system in this area.You should build them one at a time.My two most favoured methods for link building are writing articles, just like this one and then submitting them to article directories and to be included in link directories. 

Stay away from link farms, large link exchanges, or anything of the sort.  The major search engines want to see you build a steady supply of links over time.How are the search enignes going to react to an explosion in the number of backlinks in a very short period of time?  That won’t get you to number one, and certainly won’t keep you there, when you are put in the sandbox for six months.

These keys to search engine optimization are just a beginning.Web site traffic is important for your success, to get traffic organically you need good clickthroughs from the search engines.  You need visitors to stay at your site for more than a few seconds when they click in. 

How do you get that?Offer quality content.  Build it for people, not machines—while following the first three keys.  Do that, and I believe that in three to six months you will have each web site you set up with this strategy, in the top ten for your keyword.

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