How to Receive a Top 20 Position On the Search Engines

By Terry Dean

You worked hard on your new web site...You have the best designs, did killer ad copy, included free content to keep your visitors coming back, and then submitted your web page to 300 search engines in ten minutes using an automated program.

Then, you wait...And wait...And wait.

You decide there must be something wrong so you go to http://www.infoseek.com to see if your page was listed. You searched for your domain by name and there it was. You decided to search for "puppy books" since your site was selling books on puppies. Nothing. You went page after page into the results and eventually found that your site was listed 345th in the listings. Well, you think to yourself, it's better than nothing!

The real truth though is that unless you come up in the Top 20 in the major search engines under the keywords that you select for your site, you will not ever receive any
decent level of traffic from it. People just don't go past the first couple of pages (10 - 20 listings) when they are searching the internet.

What I am going to include for you below is a simple step-by-step system for getting top listings on the major search engines. It isn't always easy. Sometimes it is frustrating when things don't work out right, BUT it is worth it because one Top 20 listing can bring in sales to your site day after day and month after month without a penny spent on advertising.

* The Number One Key is Content *

The number one key to getting good positions on the search engines is having fresh and relevant content about your subject. This is becoming more and more important all the time not only when dealing with search engines, but also with linking with other sites, causing people to come back, and making sales online. The winner in online marketing is the company who provides the most useful content for free to their customers.

The most important directory of all online is the King "Yahoo." They have reviewers who actually go out and take a look at every site which is going to be included in their index. If they see just a bunch of sales letters or links to affiliate programs, then you won't even have a chance of being listed. They only list around 1 in 10 sites which is submitted to them, so the only way you are going to be listed is by having unique content for their index.

NOTE: A recent tip which I have learned for Yahoo is that when you submit your site to their index, take a look at the other sites in the same catagory and make sure you include some content on your site about the subject which is lacking on the other sites.

Then, in the comments section or in an email to Yahoo, let them know how well they have covered your subject, but that you have found some information on your site which will help to complete their index. Remember, they are not there to help you. They are there to build a resource for their visitors. If you can provide some unique content on your subject, you are that much more likely of getting listed.

* Basic Strategy *

The first step in successful search engine promotion is to pick and identify the right keywords to use in your page, in your title, and in your keywords. Select 3 - 10 keywords that will target and identify your targeted market online. What will people be searching for who will potentially purchase your products or services?

Don't try to list 100 keywords in your keyword section and try to come up under everything. It just won't work. Don't try to come up under "sex" if your site is about internet marketing. You need to target your market on search engines just like you would in any other market. If you wouldn't want to Pay money to come up under that keyword, don't focus on trying to earn it on the engines either. Use Laser targeted marketing.

* Your Main Page *

Many of the search engines are now giving higher weight to your main page if your domain name also contains the keywords. For example, if you wanted to come up under "Internet Secrets," then the perfect domain name for you to have to contain those
two words. If you were to get that domain name, then you would have an advantage on the search engine listings in almost every search engine you submit to.

Some of the Search engines such as Yahoo won't even list a page besides your main index page anymore. In other words, if you are on a free hosting server, you can't get listed there anymore. You have to own your own domain name to even stand a fighting chance.

* Eight Keys for High Ranking Pages *

1. TITLE: Your page title needs to contain the keywords that you are trying to get listed under while at the same time being interesting and exciting ad copy. Remember, your title tag will be what gets listed on people's favorite places if they bookmark your site AND the title is the first thing they see when they are searching on the search engines. If they don't like your title, they won't click to your site.

2. KEYWORDS: Make sure your keywords are in the keyword meta tag. List all of them, but also be careful to make sure that none of the keywords gets listed more than two or three times total. Example: If your keywords are internet marketing, internet promotion, internet secrets, and internet tools; change them to internet marketing, promotion, secrets, internet tools.

3. DESCRIPTION: Make sure your keywords are in a 25 word description of your site...but at the same time remember that many of the search engines will also be list this description for your potential visitors to see...so it needs to sound inviting to get them to click through to your site.

4. COMMENTS: The comment tags aren't used by all of the engines, but you should still include a short comment on your site full of some of the keywords. It could help you out on a couple of the search engines.

5. TEXT OF YOUR SITE: Your site needs to look attractive and list your keyword throughout the text. How often your keyword should be seen throughout the actual text is up for debate and is different on each engine, but it varies between 3% and 10% of your text. In other words, every 3 - 10 words out of a 100 on your site should be the keyword you are targeting most. This isn't as easy to change on your main page, but it is something for you to really play with on your Doorway pages which we discuss below.

6. IMAGE TAGS: List your keywords once inside of an image which you have on your page to give you one more extra chance of being listed under those words. People will see these tags before your pictures become visible so make sure you use them in a sentence that makes sense and that you don't just list them over and over (Spamming the search engine with them).

7. LINKS: Many of the search engines count the number of links coming to and from your pages and other sites linking to your site throughout the internet (This is another reason to trade links with as many sites as possible). So, link back and forth between your pages (This is a smart thing to do anyway so that people can go through your site simply and easily).

8: CREATE DOORWAYS OR LEAD PAGES: Sometimes, on some keywords, it just seems that you can't get a Top 20 ranking no matter what you do with your main page. On these occasions (Which occur very often), create what is called a doorway page. These pages are specifically created with one or two keywords in mind and really focus on these words.

These words are in your title, your keywords, your description, and your comment tags. They go inside of an alt image tag. And you make sure they are used on 3% - 10% of the page...sometimes as high as 15%. They should be around 3 - 5 paragraphs long and link back and forth between other lead pages you create for other keywords.

* Use Competitive Research to Stay on The Cutting Edge *

I was preparing to list some of the specific tips for each search engine in this report, but then I realized that just wouldn't work. Whatever I list today for one search engine could be completely different by tomorrow afternoon.

The various directories are constantly changing their ways of indexing pages (Partly to keep us from keeping up with them) and one resource just won't tell you how to submit to every individual search engine 100% all of the time.

What you can do though is become a digital detective and keep an eye on the rankings on the different search engines for yourself. After you have created a page and had it listed a certain rank, start visiting the sites which come up above your site in the rankings and check them out. Judge them by the 8 guideliness given to you above.

All you have to do is go to their page (Go to several of them to get a better idea of the rankings) and then click on "View" at the top of your browser. Then, choose "Source." Your Notepad should come up and show you the source .html code for the page you are looking at. Take notice of the keywords in their title, keywords, description, images, comments, and especially on how often it is used throughout their text. What are they doing differently? Keep in mind all the engines are changing constantly and each one of them is completely different from all of the others.

If you constantly do this and learn the basics I have given you above, you will be able to start getting your pages listed in the Top 20 of the search engines and watch your traffic and sales soar. It isn't always easy, but it is worth it.