Then there is keyword

Most of the information on the internet is searched and presented using keywords. So knowledge of keywords is an important factor in attaining good search engine rankings. If you want to be found, you will need to learn how to use keywords wisely. Before you decide which keyword to target, do your research first. People always think they know which word to use in describing their web content. In reality, they are normally wrong! Then there are different terms used in different countries to describe the same thing. If you want to be found, you will need the right keyword. How you describe your product is very important. Do more research on it before deciding.

After you have decided on your keyword, you will need to find out what is the competition out here for that particular keyword. On the net, you are competing to be found! More competition means more difficult to be found. For any keyword, there will be hundred of thousands of web pages in the search results. And they are ahead of you. How will you beat them to the first page listings? Sometimes, it is easier to target a keyword that is less competitive, or a keyword phrase with four or five words.

Then there is the technique of using wrongly spelt words as people's spelling is getting worse with frequent usage of SMS languages. With keywords, you get better with practice, and lots of it. As competition is getting intense, having additional websites with wrongly spelt names will tap on the increasing number of young people miss spelling when they key in their search terms. There is also an increasing use of searching using cell phones. Here, using wrongly spelt terms is common, as well as some using local slang unwittingly.

Remember, even if you have obtained a lot of links, and have plenty of contents, you still need to target the right keyword or keyword phrases. When a person wants to buy something, he will first do his research on the net. When he finds something, he is more likely to use a two letter keyword. There will obviously be a few thousand results. Then he will use a four or even five letter keywords to narrow down his search. Finally when he wants to choose the website to buy, he might use a completely different keyword phrase.

If all your efforts are not getting you anywhere, there is an alternative method and it is called pay-per-click or pay-for-inclusion. You can choose your keyword and you pay your way to be found. It cost money of course, but there are many webmasters out there that has mastered the technique and they earn more than they pay out to the search engines.

Page Rank (PR) is the little green pixel bar introduced by Google to rate the popularity of websites. You will need to install the free program on your browser to view the ratings. The ratings are from zero to ten, where ten is the highest. Normally, popular sites like MSN and Yahoo will be rated a nine and unknown sites get no ratings at all. Then there are blacklisted sites that have a grayed out appearance instead of the little green bar. In the eyes of webmasters, knowing which site rank well and which site gets blacklisted is important. You will want to link to a site with high rating and will not consider a site that has been blacklisted! Links from a high ranked site will mean a sort of endorsement and so webmaster will go all out to get them, either for free or by paying.

How does Google rank sites then? There are a few hundred determinant factors, but the main ones are relevant links from other websites. If you have the most sites linking to you, then you are some sort of authority site, and will most often be listed number one on the search listings. Obviously it is highly coveted. But because webmasters can outwit Google by using underhand techniques, Google has down played the ranking system in its search engine listings so it is not necessary to obtain high PR in order to be listed number one. Another thing is that PR can be faked, so put your trust somewhere else.