Every internet marketer or webmaster aims to have their websites in the first page of the organic search results for their targeted keywords. In this article, I’m going to reveal some vital search engine optimization tips that will boost your chances of being listed in the Top 10 results for your chosen keywords.

SEO has its advantages. It’s free, unlike pay per click where you have to pay every time someone visits your site, regardless of whether they buy anything or not. Being listed in the organic search results may also attract more visitors to your site than the paid listings; people are not inclined to click on ads and prefer to click on natural search items.

The downside of SEO is that search engines change their algorithms often; but don’t worry. By following the search engine optimization tips below, you’ll stand a much bigger chance of being listed in the Top 10 for your desired keywords and keeping your position for a long time to come.

Keywords must be in the anchor text of incoming links.

A different site linking to you counts as a vote in the eyes of the search engines. And if the anchor text of the incoming links has your keywords in it, then you will have better chances of ranking for those keywords.

Keywords must be within the title tag.

The search engines place great emphasis on the title tag; it tells them what your website’s topic is about. Place your keywords at the start of the title tag for best results. The title tag must not be longer than 60 characters.

Your link should contain your keywords.

Having your keywords in your link will help you get ranked for those keywords. For example, if you want to rank high for the keywords "website copywriting," your link should look like this: http://yoursite.com/website-copywriting.htm.

Play it safe with your keyword density.

There is no specific rule regarding the "right" keyword density, because the search engines change their algorithms often. There have been theories that Google considers a keyword density of more than 2% to be spamming, but Yahoo and MSN are fine with up to 5%.

Different SEO experts have mixed opinions on the ideal keyword density; so don’t focus all your energies on this. Just mention your keywords near the beginning and write naturally. To be on the safe side, aim to have no more than 2%, but space out your keywords from each other so they would look natural in the eyes of the search engines.

Put your keywords in headings (within the H1 tags, H2 tags, etc.)

The search engines place great emphasis on words between headings (H1, H2, etc.) so it would be a smart idea to have your keywords placed within them. Just make sure that the keywords are suitable to the content and you’re not "forcing" them.

Put bold, strong, or italicize tags between your keywords.

The search engines take more notice of words that are either bolded or italicized, so placing your keywords within the bold, strong, or i tags can help you rank higher for those keywords.

Page 1 of 2 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 | Next