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Search Engine Rankings Tips

Article by Steve Watkins

It's only natural that every website owner wants to be number one, both in their industry and in search engines. While nothing can guarantee you success in getting to the top of either, there are some steps you can take to help your site on its way.

Ranking well in search engines should be seen as more of a bonus source of traffic than an essential part. Your other promotional work should be the main contributor of visitors to your site.

That said, there are a few ways to help you get that top 10 ranking. The advice I provide here consists of general tips that have led to success for many sites.

Excellent Quality Content

Give the search engines what they want to provide to their users - excellent, well written information. The more information and content you can provide on your site, the more likely you will have information the searcher (and search engine) will be looking for.

You can never have too many pages of helpful information. Your site users will appreciate this as much as the search engines will.

Get a DMOZ Listing

DMOZ (the open directory project) is a massive database of links to good websites. The directory is maintained by a dedicated team of experts from all over the world.

Because the directory is maintained by humans, it is considered an authoritative source of good sites. Search engines often look to see if a site has been included in the directory, and provide a boost to your rankings if you are listed.

As every site that is included in the directory has to be reviewed, it can take a little while to get listed. Get your site listed in DMOZ as soon as it's ready.

Don't Cheat

There used to be a trick that would help boost your rankings by using hidden text. The trick was making a huge list of words on your site and having them the same color as your background (so your users don't see).

Search engines realised that some sites were doing this and penalised them. They then barely ranked at all, let alone near the top.

By keeping away from any unethical tricks like the one described above can ensure your site gets good rankings long-term. A trick working today could be a five year long (or more) penalty tomorrow.

Regularly Update your Web Site

Search engines love new information. It increases the chances that the new information is more up-to-date than older pages. By keeping your site current, you can increase the chances that search engines will boost your rankings.

See further general website hosting FAQs or our FAQ categories for more information.

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