Michael Small is the founder of the free SEO (search engine optimization) blog http://www.SEOpartner.com and author of a dozen search engine optimization books and whitepapers including the SEO Notebook, available at http://www.theSeoNotebook.com
Does dominating Google rankings quick and easy sound too good to be true? It really isn't. Following are a bunch of surefire SEO tips that have kept hundreds of my client's sites on top of Google for years, with new ones every month.
There's a lot to cover and I hate long articles that drone on so I'll keep the info short and sweet. Let's start with the domain name.
Domain Names
Age: Make sure your domain name is at least six months old. If it's more than a year old, that's even better. Google often (but not always) likes domains to be at least six months old before indexing the site. How do they know? They use a "whois" database like the one at:
http://www.AllWhoIs.com.
Go there and enter your domain if you want to see what Google (and anyone else in the world) can instantly know about your site.
TLD Type: TLD stands for Top Level Domain, which is to say the letters after the dot. The best ones to have are ".com, .net. .org and .edu." These get the most play in Google's top 3 rankings for just about every keyword you can imagine, with ".com" and ".edu" being the best.
Embedded Keywords: If you have your main keyword (and ONLY your main keyword) as a dotcom domain name with even just halfway decent page text and some good inbound links you can usually nail number one on Google for that keyword. I've done it dozens of times. It's a no brainer.
Dashes: Having a dash in your domain name might be bad for branding but it can open whole new doors of opportunity for your search engine optimization efforts. You see Google treats a dash as a null value (almost like a space) and can take them or leave them with equal indifference. So if your main keyword phrase is a few words long, you can place a dash between each word. If that's taken, just try one dash separating the first and second words but leave the second and third word grouped together. You get the idea. Just keep trying combinations until you have one that works and scoop up the domain. Even if you sit on it for six months, you'll have it when you want it.
Now on to the next big item; keywords. The best keyword embedded domain name in the world will mean little if nobody is searching for that keyword. That said; let's find the best keywords possible for your site. Here's how...
Keywords:
Keywords in Demand: Let's snoop into Google's keyword database and find some winners. Go to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and enter any keyword or phrase you think your target audience is looking for. Now click on the top header link to sort by desired search volume to see which words get the most searches.
Go Long: And don't be afraid to use longer keywords as long as they get plenty of searches. Not only will this narrow the tasks of your workload for actual optimization but it will open all kinds of new options for finding great (dash laden) domain names and even help cut back on your competition.
Narrow Your Field: Now take the top ten or so relevant keywords and phrases and list them in order of "Approximate Monthly Searches Performed." You might want to paste the keyword into one column of a spreadsheet and the number of searches into the next column. This next part takes a bit of math so we might as well let Excel do it.
Competition:
Competition; Less is Better: "Less is better." Well that's the understatement of the year. But how do you know how much competition you will be up against? It's easy. Simple division does the trick nicely. Here's how...
Google It: Go to Google and paste in your first keyword phrase. Look in the upper right area of the page and see how many pages you will be competing against if you try to optimize for that keyword (Results 1 - 10 of about 123,000,000 for "keyword".) Now record that number in the cell to the right of "searches performed." You can go ahead and do the same for each keyword. When you have all the info you need have Excel divide the number of "competing pages" by the number of "searches performed." The lower the resulting ratio; the better your chances. Your best bet is to take the lowest ratio number with the highest number of "searches performed." This is your optimal target.
Even More: But we're not done yet! Now find the next best two runnerup keywords and write them down in order of importance. We'll need them soon.
Content:
The King Lives!: You're probably sick of hearing it but content really is king. Developing search engine friendly, well optimized content (for REAL people) is key to your success. Google can read a Web page just like a person thanks to its natural text algorithm. So keyword spamming and robotic writing do not work with Google. But here's what DOES work...
Keep it Real: Call a close friend and tell him or her exactly what you want to tell your web visitors. Then as quick as you can write it down, as close to "word for word" as you can remember. Just let the words flow. You can fix spelling and grammar later.
Fitting In: Now, with your list of three keywords, go back through your text and fit your most important keyword as close to the beginning of the first sentence as possible. Now go ahead and place your number two keyword someplace else toward the beginning of your first paragraph. Your third keyword should go into the beginning of the second paragraph if possible.
Now use only one of your keywords for each of the next three paragraphs. Try to make them fit naturally toward the beginning sentence or two of each paragraph.
Throw in a Curve: Now use a reverse order for the very last paragraph. Put your least important keyword (number 3 pick) at the beginning of the paragraph and your best keyword at the end. This shows consistency (at least as far as Google is concerned.)
Last but not least, do not repeat any keyword more than three or four times on a page. I stick with a 3 x 3 method and it works great (3 keywords each mentioned 3 times over the course of about 9 paragraphs.)
Getting Links and Monitoring Your Site:
Inbound Links: Having high quality inbound links can account for more than 75% of your search engine ranking success. Getting these links is the crucial step that will get you over the top. At the same time you need to monitor your progress and your site's status (how search engine REALLY see it). This will tell you not just where you are - but where you are likely to be. In the old days, we had to do all of the link work and monitoring by hand. And believe me, it took a long time (I averaged about 16 hours per week; per site!) My advice is to find a good SEO tool and let it do the tough and repetitive work for you. If you get hold of the right product, it's the best money you'll ever spend.
I started out with WebPosition Pro and used it for a couple years but switched to another tool that has automated linking, which I find to be the most time-consuming and now most important aspect of SEO on Google. This was probably a good call since Web Position was recently banned by Google for abuse.
Anyway, here are my results for both...
http://www.SE0elite.com Cost = $167 (lifetime free upgrades and no annual fees)
Personal Results: 121 top 5 rankings on Google in 3 weeks - Mostly 1's and 2's. Best Features: Finds best link partners; Automates link process; Finds "Google "authority sites."
http://www.WebPosition.com Cost = $389 WebPosition Pro or $149 Standard (plus $99 per year subscription fees for either)
Personal Results: 44 top 5 rankings in Google in eight weeks - Mostly 3's and 4's. Best Features: Site Monitoring (recently banned by Google); Great reporting; Site Critic
Now you're ready to dominate Google. Good luck!
There's a lot to cover and I hate long articles that drone on so I'll keep the info short and sweet. Let's start with the domain name.
Domain Names
Age: Make sure your domain name is at least six months old. If it's more than a year old, that's even better. Google often (but not always) likes domains to be at least six months old before indexing the site. How do they know? They use a "whois" database like the one at:
http://www.AllWhoIs.com.
Go there and enter your domain if you want to see what Google (and anyone else in the world) can instantly know about your site.
TLD Type: TLD stands for Top Level Domain, which is to say the letters after the dot. The best ones to have are ".com, .net. .org and .edu." These get the most play in Google's top 3 rankings for just about every keyword you can imagine, with ".com" and ".edu" being the best.
Embedded Keywords: If you have your main keyword (and ONLY your main keyword) as a dotcom domain name with even just halfway decent page text and some good inbound links you can usually nail number one on Google for that keyword. I've done it dozens of times. It's a no brainer.
Dashes: Having a dash in your domain name might be bad for branding but it can open whole new doors of opportunity for your search engine optimization efforts. You see Google treats a dash as a null value (almost like a space) and can take them or leave them with equal indifference. So if your main keyword phrase is a few words long, you can place a dash between each word. If that's taken, just try one dash separating the first and second words but leave the second and third word grouped together. You get the idea. Just keep trying combinations until you have one that works and scoop up the domain. Even if you sit on it for six months, you'll have it when you want it.
Now on to the next big item; keywords. The best keyword embedded domain name in the world will mean little if nobody is searching for that keyword. That said; let's find the best keywords possible for your site. Here's how...
Keywords:
Keywords in Demand: Let's snoop into Google's keyword database and find some winners. Go to https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and enter any keyword or phrase you think your target audience is looking for. Now click on the top header link to sort by desired search volume to see which words get the most searches.
Go Long: And don't be afraid to use longer keywords as long as they get plenty of searches. Not only will this narrow the tasks of your workload for actual optimization but it will open all kinds of new options for finding great (dash laden) domain names and even help cut back on your competition.
Narrow Your Field: Now take the top ten or so relevant keywords and phrases and list them in order of "Approximate Monthly Searches Performed." You might want to paste the keyword into one column of a spreadsheet and the number of searches into the next column. This next part takes a bit of math so we might as well let Excel do it.
Competition:
Competition; Less is Better: "Less is better." Well that's the understatement of the year. But how do you know how much competition you will be up against? It's easy. Simple division does the trick nicely. Here's how...
Google It: Go to Google and paste in your first keyword phrase. Look in the upper right area of the page and see how many pages you will be competing against if you try to optimize for that keyword (Results 1 - 10 of about 123,000,000 for "keyword".) Now record that number in the cell to the right of "searches performed." You can go ahead and do the same for each keyword. When you have all the info you need have Excel divide the number of "competing pages" by the number of "searches performed." The lower the resulting ratio; the better your chances. Your best bet is to take the lowest ratio number with the highest number of "searches performed." This is your optimal target.
Even More: But we're not done yet! Now find the next best two runnerup keywords and write them down in order of importance. We'll need them soon.
Content:
The King Lives!: You're probably sick of hearing it but content really is king. Developing search engine friendly, well optimized content (for REAL people) is key to your success. Google can read a Web page just like a person thanks to its natural text algorithm. So keyword spamming and robotic writing do not work with Google. But here's what DOES work...
Keep it Real: Call a close friend and tell him or her exactly what you want to tell your web visitors. Then as quick as you can write it down, as close to "word for word" as you can remember. Just let the words flow. You can fix spelling and grammar later.
Fitting In: Now, with your list of three keywords, go back through your text and fit your most important keyword as close to the beginning of the first sentence as possible. Now go ahead and place your number two keyword someplace else toward the beginning of your first paragraph. Your third keyword should go into the beginning of the second paragraph if possible.
Now use only one of your keywords for each of the next three paragraphs. Try to make them fit naturally toward the beginning sentence or two of each paragraph.
Throw in a Curve: Now use a reverse order for the very last paragraph. Put your least important keyword (number 3 pick) at the beginning of the paragraph and your best keyword at the end. This shows consistency (at least as far as Google is concerned.)
Last but not least, do not repeat any keyword more than three or four times on a page. I stick with a 3 x 3 method and it works great (3 keywords each mentioned 3 times over the course of about 9 paragraphs.)
Getting Links and Monitoring Your Site:
Inbound Links: Having high quality inbound links can account for more than 75% of your search engine ranking success. Getting these links is the crucial step that will get you over the top. At the same time you need to monitor your progress and your site's status (how search engine REALLY see it). This will tell you not just where you are - but where you are likely to be. In the old days, we had to do all of the link work and monitoring by hand. And believe me, it took a long time (I averaged about 16 hours per week; per site!) My advice is to find a good SEO tool and let it do the tough and repetitive work for you. If you get hold of the right product, it's the best money you'll ever spend.
I started out with WebPosition Pro and used it for a couple years but switched to another tool that has automated linking, which I find to be the most time-consuming and now most important aspect of SEO on Google. This was probably a good call since Web Position was recently banned by Google for abuse.
Anyway, here are my results for both...
http://www.SE0elite.com Cost = $167 (lifetime free upgrades and no annual fees)
Personal Results: 121 top 5 rankings on Google in 3 weeks - Mostly 1's and 2's. Best Features: Finds best link partners; Automates link process; Finds "Google "authority sites."
http://www.WebPosition.com Cost = $389 WebPosition Pro or $149 Standard (plus $99 per year subscription fees for either)
Personal Results: 44 top 5 rankings in Google in eight weeks - Mostly 3's and 4's. Best Features: Site Monitoring (recently banned by Google); Great reporting; Site Critic
Now you're ready to dominate Google. Good luck!
- Related Videos
- Related Articles
- Ask / Related Q&A
- Basics of Search Engine Optimization (seo)
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - An Overview
- Simple Search Engine Optimization - SEO Tips for Google, Yahoo and Msn
- Search Engine Optimization SEO
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Natural Search Engine Optimization (seo)
- Why Search Engine Optimization (Seo) Services From India Are A Craze?
- Search Engine Optimization (seo)




Get a Free Wedding Website and Keep Everyone Updated
By: jamiehanson | 21/12/2009Every bride finds herself with entirely too much to do before her wedding and trying to keep people updated and organize everything can be overwhelming. To help keep these things to a bearable level, it's a good idea to get yourself a free wedding website.
Blog Search Optimization Improved
By: jamiehanson | 21/12/2009Videos are great for blogs and can boost blog search optimization. They can really attract a lot of people who, if they are interested enough, will click on through to your blog.
Organic Search Engine Optimization- How to Beat the Competition
By: jamiehanson | 21/12/2009Organic search engine optimization is something most people have heard talked about but aren't really certain of what it means. If you have a website and want better search engine rankings, then you should be implementing these SEO techniques.
Google Sniper Review - The Top Money Making Tutorial 2009
By: Sarah Brown | 21/12/2009Seeing that the Google Sniper has attained a portion of so called Google Sniper Review, Neverthelessthe main question is whether these reviews arise from customers or merelyely affiliates merely trying to sell you the Google Sniper process. Considering that there is a refundsecurity interval on the Google Sniper i was determined to try it myself and this concise journal will tell you what to expect if you are going to buythe Google Sniper.
Are Google Earth-based Vehicle Tracking Systems Better?
By: Kent Stabler | 21/12/2009New advances in the form of GPS-enabled smartphones, netbooks and other technologies are making vehicle tracking easier and cheaper for everyone. Are these new systems any good? What are their implications and what are the likely impacts on the Fleet vehicle tracking industry? In the world of fleet management the many...
Secretly Spy of peoples Private MySpace Profile Pages.Really?
By: Paul Ingersole | 20/12/2009You are searching around looking at peoples profile pictures and all of a sudden, you spot a face on a profile page that you just have to learn more about. You may even know the person and you are just dying to learn more about them and to view the pictures they have uploaded.
Fatcow Review and Coupon Code
By: Eddie Moses | 20/12/2009FatCow offers convenient, reliable and affordable web hosting solutions to the small business users and first commenced its operations in the year 1998. Their primary focus remains offering easy to use services and offering best possible value for money. FatCow features all that is required of a quality web hosting...
Download Free PSP Themes - 3 Essential Tips - PSP Go Download Center
By: Dimitar Mishev | 20/12/2009Do you want to download a free PSP theme? I think most PSP owners do. The PSP is a tremendously popular piece of electronics equipment, and one that allows it’s owners to be truly unique-who needs Ipod socks when you change the whole way your PSP looks and behaves? PSP Go Download Center
Be #1 on MSN Bing by Christmas. Really!
By: Michael Small | 23/11/2009 | InternetMSN Bing is probably the most profitable search engine you can be found on. Unlike Google, it attracts many more adults eager to buy than kids just playing around. And very unlike Google, you can get to number one on MSN Bing using the simple method revealed in this article.
Google vs Bing; Your Best SEO Bet
By: Michael Small | 18/08/2009 | InternetMicrosoft just took off its kid gloves with the release of Bing and is looking for a shot at the reigning champ Google. This article will show you how to hedge your bet with both contenders and come out a winner while these two Goliaths slug it out.
Google is Not the Only Game in Town
By: Michael Small | 02/06/2009 | InternetMSN has a lot to offer business Website owners and it is the easiest search engine to rank well on. Forget spending years fighting Google and become the undisputed champion on MSN in no time. I will show you how.
Are You Buying the Sizzle or the Steak?
By: Michael Small | 19/04/2009 | InternetPerceived value has little to do with actual value. As marketers we know this but as business owners the line between perceived and actual value often becomes fuzzy. This article will help any self-marketing entrepreneur spot the deals among the hype.
Valentines Treats That are Good for You
By: Michael Small | 09/02/2009 | Home & FamilyNowadays we're trying to be healthier than ever. Unfortunately it usually feels like bad timing when holidays like Valentine's Day come around. Let's face it. We all like homemade goodies. They're like our favorite song or movie. We like them and don't mind getting too much of a good thing. So how do you get the goodies without the guilt? It's easier than you think, and tastier too.
SEO on a Budget; Trading Time and Money
By: Michael Small | 19/01/2009 | InternetSEO is like anything else in the world. You can trade time, money and effort to accomplish anything. The trick is in picking the best option for your needs at the moment. This article will show you how to save all three.
Is Msn Better for Business Than Google?
By: Michael Small | 24/11/2008 | InternetGoogle may be the most popular search engine but is it the best for driving qualified sales leads to your site? You might be surprised at the answer.
3 Quick and Easy Ways to Monopolize Google Rankings!
By: Michael Small | 13/10/2008 | InternetMonopolizing the top spots of Google is not as hard as your competition wants you to believe. Anyone with the right knowledge can dominate Google rankings in a matter of weeks using just three simple methods...