How To Get Top 10 Listings In Google

Recently Rand Fishkin of Seomoz.org brought togethe 37 of the world's Top SEO experts to tackle Google's Algorithm, the complex formula and methods Google uses nto rank web pages. This ranking formula is extremely nimportant to webmasters because finding which factors Google uses to rank their index is often considered nthe Holy Grail of site optimization. Google's ranking factors affect how and where you arenlisted in their search engine results or SERPs. Sincenobtaining top positions for your targeted keywords often nspells success for your site, knowing Google's ranking nfactors can be very beneficial. Every experienced webmaster will know Google is the nmain supplier of search engine traffic on the web, gettingnlisted on the first page or anywhere in the top 10 positions nfor popular keywords will result in plenty of free quality ntargeted traffic. Briefly listed below are some of the main ranking factors nyou should be optimizing your web pages for in your nmarketing. The majority of these ranking factors will nbe very familiar to most webmasters who take full nadvantage of any and every SEO tactic which will ngive their site an edge over their competition. Here are some of the main ranking factors to consider:nnn1. Keywords In Your Title And On Your Page Place your keyword or keyword phrase in the title of your npage and also in your copy. Many webmasters use variations nof their keywords on this page and also include it in the H1 headline.nn2. Keywords In Your URL Keep your page on topic and place your keyword in the URL. Use your keyword in the H2, H3... headlines. Place it in the ndescription and meta tags, place it in bold/strong tags, but nkeep your content readable and useful. Be aware of the text nsurrounding your keywords, search engines will become more nsemantic in the coming years so context is important.nn3. Create High Quality Relevant Content Have high quality relevant content on your pages. Your ncontent should be related to the topic of your site and nupdated regularly depending on the nature of your site.nn4. Internal Onsite Linking Internal linking is important to your overall ranking. Makensure your linking structure is easy for the spiders to crawl. Most suggest a simple hierarchy with links no more than three nclicks away from your home/index page. Creating traffic modes or clusters of related links within na section on your site has proven very effective for many nwebmasters, including this one. For example, creating a nsimple online guide on a subject related to your site's topic ncan prove very beneficial. Keep all the links connected and nclosely related in subject matter and don't forget to have noccasional exte al 'anchor keyworded' links coming to these ninte al links on your site instead of to your homepage. Deep build your links.nn5. Only Linking To High Quality Related Sites Don't forget to link to high quality PR related sites. Linking nto high quality sites shows the search engines your site is very nuseful to your visitors. Build relationships within communities non the topic of your site. Be extremely careful not to link to nbad neighborhoods, link farms and spam sites... when in doubt, ndon't link out! Unless your site has been around for years and is well nestablished and trusted by Google, this factor will have annadverse effect on your site's overall ranking. Linking only nto high quality content sites will give your site an edge nover your competition.nn6. Global Linking Popularity One of the major ranking factors is the Global Linking Popularity of your site. You should try to build plenty nof inbound links from quality sites. One simple and neffective way to do this is through writing articles nand submitting them to the online article directories. Only related sites will pick up and display your articles nwith your anchor text links back to your site. These are nofte ONE-WAY-LINKS. But don't just write articles to get links, write quality ncontent that will help the reader first and the links will ncome naturally. Also remember an article is an extremely ngood way of pre-selling your products and gaining trust nwith your potential customers.nn7. Anchor Text Is Very Important Anchor text is an important factor your must not forget nto use. Perhaps more importantly these inbound links should nbe related or relevant to your site's topic, which will nplay an important role in your rankings. Don't ignore the ntext surrounding your links and use different anchor text nlinks to avoid keyword spamming. Keep in mind, as search engines become more semantic, the nwhole text of your article will probably be considered you anchor text, thus making articles even more important to your nrankings.nn8. Number And Quality Of Your Inbound Links Your inbound links should also come from related high Global Link Popular sites. The more links your have from these popular nrelated sites the higher rankings you will get. Many SEO experts nsuggest you should have a steady stream of new sites (inbound nlinks) added each month to keep your rankings growing. These nlinks will age and increase your rankings after 4 or 5 months. Both quality and quantity is important.nn9. Reliable Server And Service Like any business, Google is only serving up a product (SERPs)nto its customers, this service must be continuous and available nat all times. Made sure you have a good reliable server because nany extended downtime when your site is inaccessible to the Bots nmay be detrimental to your rankings. If it is down for over 48 nhours, you could be dropped from the index. Ouch!nn10. Duplicate Content Is A NO NO! Make certain you don't place duplicate content on your site. This may affect your rankings and get your pages thrown into nthe supplemental index. Be careful not to use duplicate title nor mega tags on your pages as this will lower and disburse your ninte al page rankings, resulting in poor optimization. Your overall SEO strategy should be to provide valuable relevant ncontent and links for your visitors and for the search engines. Furthermore, as mentioned earlier, be extremely careful who nyou link out to from your site. Avoid spam sites, link farms nor selling links. Although it is a bit outdated, using the Google Toolbar will still give you a general overview of a nsite's PR or Page Rank. These are some of the most common and important ranking nfactors Google uses to rank and display their search engine nresults. Optimizing your site or keywords for these factors ncan prove very beneficial and rewarding. There are many more factors so you should use the Seomoz.org nlink in the resource box below to get all the gory details. For nany novice or experienced webmaster it makes for a fascinating nread and is extremely helpful in tackling Google's complex ranking nsystem or algorithm. Conquer it and an endless supply of free norganic traffic is yours for the taking.