In a recent LinkedIn group discussion, it was said that there are some 200 factors that go into Google's algorithm that calculates where to position your website in searches. It would be a full-time job to constantly monitor all those factors, but, fortunately, not all of them are equally important. By focusing on the most critical factors, you can help your site's placement in searches.
1. Use a meaningful keyword in both your visible page title and your title metatag. For example, if you have a page about the negative side of getting a cat declawed (I dislike the idea), a poor title would be "Can't Climb a Tree" while a good title might be "Cat Declawing Downsides." The page title should also be enclosed in an <h1> tag, rather than just sized up on the page. This helps tell the search engine spiders that this is important text.
2. Carefully consider your link anchor text throughout your website. Rather than a generic link titled "Case Studies," a more descriptive link title would be "Marketing Case Studies." Again, this helps to define your site for the search engines.
3. Images help tell your story better than many words - unless you are a search engine spider. An image is invisible to the spiders and "bots" unless you name the image meaningfully and use an "alt" or "title" tag with it. An image named "xr003238xm7.jpg" has no value, while one named "polar-bears.jpg" can be indexed. The tag that displays when a visitor mouses over the image can be used for descriptive text that identifies the picture and is important both to the search engines and for accessibility.
4. Ask for links to your website from other websites with related content. Spend time regularly searching out sites and asking for these links. There is virtually nothing you can do (other than having meaningful content on your website) that will have a greater positive impact on your website's search engine rankings.
5. The flip side of that is do not participate in link schemes. If you receive any kind of notice promising thousands of inbound links to your site, quickly delete it and spend your time productively instead. These types of link farms will hurt your credibility with the search engines and is a negative factor in your search engine placement.
As a general rule, anything that appears to be a "trick" to search engines will hurt your placement. But if your website has quality content, basic SEO rules are followed and you actively work towards getting inbound links, you can have a postive influence on your position in searches.
