Simple SEO - Get Search Engine Rankings the Easy Way

As someone who runs several online businesses, many of which rate highly in the search engine rankings, I am often asked how to get those top rankings. The reality is that getting a high ranking in Google, Yahoo, or MSN isn't difficult at all. You just need the right SEO concepts to get there quickly.

In this article I will cover the basics of ranking in search engines. Simply doing some keyword research and then paying attention to the way you build your pages is usually all that is required.

Simple Keyword Research

Your first step for SEO is to find out which keywords to optimize for. There are actually a couple of ways to go about this, but the simplest is to use Google's Keyword Research Tool (search Keyword Tool on Google to find it). Navigate to the keyword tool and then run the top rated site in your market through that tool.

This will bring up an extensive list of terms that relate to the market you are working in. Included with those terms are columns that give advertiser competition, and monthly search volumes. If you have a newer site there are specific types of keywords that you want to look for.

The best terms to optimize for aren't the broader terms you find. For example if you were selling apples online the term "apple" is very likely highly competitive. On the other hand a more specific related keyword may not be so competitive. Using the example maybe "Macintosh apples" is a less competitive term. The key is to find terms that get high search volumes (500 or more per month) but that are less competitive than the main terms in your market.

Once you have found a minimum of two low competition terms (20 max) then you are ready to begin optimizing your site.

SEO for Web Pages

With your list of terms that you want to optimize for getting your pages ready for top rankings really isn't hard at all. In fact, if you did your keyword research properly you're only five steps away from the top spot for those terms. Best of all if the term closely relates to the main terms in your market you'll also begin to rate for those terms as well.

To optimize your pages here are the steps you should take:

1. Add keywords to the title tags of all of your web pages.

2. Add keyword to the heading takes (h1, h2, h3) of your web pages.

3. Name your files using keywords. For example naming the page macintosh-apples.htm instead of product.htm

4. Pay attention to keyword placement and use the terms you are optimizing for throughout your pages (without taking away from readability).

5. Update your site often and use keywords in the titles of posts to your blog, new web pages, and any other content you add to the site.

6. Work on building links from other sites and include keyword in the anchor text. Usually this is as simple as asking other related sites to exchange links, or just joining a link exchange.

If you follow those steps, and work at it over time, you'll find that you climb in the search engine rankings quickly. Really in just a few months time you can have a pile of free traffic and all it takes is a little time.