Many have asked me how to get their web site to the top of the search engines? One answer is you can pay to be at the top with advertising called pay per click (PPC). You can bid to be at the top and choose which searches you want to appear on. Some clicks will cost you $2-$3 or more depending on the popularity of the phrase. This can be effective, but also very costly. The other concern is many people ignore the advertisements because many times the ads do not apply to what you are searching for. I will address PPC at a later date.

So the question is, how do you get the top of the searches naturally or as they call it in the business "organically?" Meaning when people search your web site shows up in the list. There isn't a simple answer but here are few items search engines look at to establish rankings.

Off Page Factors

1. Age of the Domain 2. Number of Inbound Links 3. Link Text (Anchor Text) Keyword 4. Age of the Domains of Inbound 5. Age of the Inbound Links 6. Keyword Theme of Domain/Link 7. Google Page Rank of Inbound Link 8. Directory Listings (DMOZ.org, Yahoo, Second Tier Established Directory Listings. 9. Niche Directory Listings 10. Inbound Links From Authority or Matter Expert Sites. 11. Domain Registration Length

On Page Factors

1. Title 2. Body Text 3. Headings H1/H2/H3 4. Link Text (Anchor Text) 5. Domain Names, File and Folder Names 6. Keyword Repetition, Proximity, Prominence 7. Alt tag attributes in Images and Links 8. Page Size 9. Search Engine Friendly Navigation 10. Number of Pages on the Website 11. Website Freshness/Frequency of Updates 12. Number of Outgoing Links 13. Domain Class (.edu/.org/.com..etc) 14. Site Map

As you can see there is quite a bit to it.

I thought I would call an expert for an explanation, and tips on what we can do with our web sites so they rank higher on the search engines. I called Mike Parker from The Blackwater Consulting Group to pick his brain a bit. Mike has been featured in Broker Agent News and other publications. Click below to listen to our conversation.

Mike Parker Interview MP3

You can click on the link and it will open an MP3 player on your compter like Windows media player, real pleayer, or quick time. Or you can right click the link and click "save target as" and save the file to your computer and listen to it later.

Below is a link to a report explaining SEO. It is an interesting read. (the file is large so it may take some time to load)

1b-SEO_Secrets_2.pdf

You can contact BlackWater at 949-760-3002 Let them know you are with Assist2Sell. or you can email them at  info@theblackwatercg.com