How to Improve Your Google Rank By: Colin Wainwright

Google, Bing and Yahoo search engines use a variety of methods to determine which pages are displayed first in the results. Their exact formula is a secret, but there are a few things you can do to improve your positioning. The term for this is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). 

This article  may not make your website the first one to appear in the list, but might  just may help you move up a some.
Make sure you make a site that you want to visit. If you're breaking the the rules, sooner or later Google will figure it out and change their formula. You'll end up plummeting in the search results and not no why . Ignore spam and websites that offer to submit your website to hundreds of search engines. At best these are wastes of time or money and at worst they can actually hurt your ranking. 

Keyword Phrases

Rather than focusing on a single word, try adding a few words to make a keyword phrase. You may want to read about Search Engine Optimization Breakthrough to see how keyword phrases help with searches. Don't overdo it. If it looks like spam, it probably is.

If you were searching for your own website, what keyword phrase would you type into Google for each page? Would you look for super fast widgets? Would you look for cooking with widgets? It would be helpful to get a different perspective. Ask someone else to take a look at your page and suggest what they think your keyword phrase might be. You can also check Google Trends to see if one phrase is starting to gain popularity. Try to stick to one subject per page, and stick to one keyword phrase per page. That doesn't mean you should write boring text or use odd phrases. Clear writing is both easier to search and easier to read. 

Name Your Pages

Give your pages a descriptive name with the <title> attribute. This is vital. Google displays search results as a link using the Web page's title. A link called 'untitled' isn't enticing, and nobody is going to click on it. When appropriate, use the page's keyword phrase in the title.

Density

One of the things Google looks for when it catalogs pages is the density of the keyword usage. how it works is, how often the keyword occurs. Use natural phrasing. Don't try to be tricky by repeating the same word over and over or making text "invisible." It doesn't work. In fact, some of that behavior even get your website banned. Read more: Search Engine Optimization Breakthrough Give a strong opening paragraph that says what your page is actually about. This is just good practice, but it may help search engines find your page, too.

Links Are Good

One of the biggest factors Google looks at is the hyperlink. Google looks at both links to and from your website.

Google looks at the words you use in links to help determine the content of your page. Use links within web pages as a way to emphasize keywords. Rather than saying, "click here learn more about SEO" you should say: Search Engine Optimization Breakthrough Links from other websites to your website are used to determine PageRank You can improve your PageRank by exchanging text links with other relevant websites. Banner exchanges are not as effective, and pages that want to charge you for this service, are probably already known spammers.

Make Your Graphics Search Friendly

Keep the Flash down. People may enjoy Flash, but search engines tend to skip right over it. It's also bad for phone traffic. Give your images <alt> attributes. Not only does it make your website more accessible to the visually impaired, it also gives you another chance to place your keywords where Google can see them.

Good Clean Web Design 

When all is said and done,  strong, organized pages are pages that Google tends to rank higher. They're also pages that tend to become more popular, which means Google will rank them even higher. Keep good design in mind as you go, and much of the SEO will design itself.