7 Search Engine Optimization Strategies That Work	Visited: 2998 4.0/5.0 (5 votes total) Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
by Michael Fleischner July 14, 2006

As the Internet becomes even more pervasive, the importance of search engine optimization continues to grow. You can make the most of your Internet marketing efforts by following the same steps that top ranking sites do for improvinge their rankings. You may think that top ranking sites have to spend lots of money to get there. The truth is that sites who come out on top, follow some basic search engine optimization guidelines. These guidelines are easy to follow and often cost little or nothing to put into practice.

1. Manually register your site with DMOZ, also known as the Open Directory Project. The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors and feeds other leading web directories.

2. Manually submit your site to Google. If you’d like to wait, Google will eventually spider your site and return it in search result listings related to your site name and keywords. However, this may take some time. For faster inclusion, visit Google and submit your site manually.

3. Purchase a listing with Yahoo! Directory Submit.Yahoo! like Google provides many search products. However, Directory Submit is essential for any business on the web. For a fee of $299 Yahoo! will include your web site in their directory that fuels websites like Yahoo!, MSN and AltaVista.

4. Make sure you are using keywords with a high KEI. This measure takes into consideration both the popularity and competitiveness of your keywords. By focusing on keywords with a higher KEI, you can optimize your chance for search engines to select your site for keywords at little or no expense.

5. Engage in a link building campaign. The more links you have to your site, especially if they have a high Google Page Rank, will signal Google and other search engines that your site is important. A great way to do this is through article submission or affiliate programs.

6. Make your site easily to crawl. Search engines do not like dynamic pages. Although this is changing with the advent of Google Site Maps, it is still important to ensure that all search engines can easily traverse your website. Make sure to use HTML coding and avoid dynamically created pages.

7. Be patient. Once you follow these suggestions, allow search engines time to re-index your site. In the Internet age, we’re looking for instant results. However, it does take some time for all of your search engine optimization techniques to take hold.

By implementing the suggestions we’ve discussed in this article, your search engine optimization efforts can generate positive returns. As the world of search engines continue to evolve, it's important to learn about the latest techniques and requirements for improving search engine results. Continue to focus on SEO. If you do, you’ll find yourself at the top of the rankings!