Looking for ways to rank higher among search engine results? Let’s be honest. We’re talking about Google, which now accounts for 68% of all searches – even higher in most places overseas. There are many facets to the Google algorithm. For the rest of the week we are sharing some simple ideas you can implement to increase your natural Google ranking.

Research Keywords That Get Leads
One of my least favorite calls is from a client saying they are number one on a totally obscure keyword! (And they often paid a shyster a lot of money to get it.) Then through research we find that the searches for that term are dismal.

Make sure you’re optimizing for the right terms. (WordTracker is a great tool.) If you’re doing analytics or PPC, make sure you’re optimizing for the words that not only get searches, but that actually get leads! It’s almost worth a PPC campaign testing various elements to get this info.

Build Links
Approximately 80% of what Google uses to determine how they rank you is “off page,” meaning factors that aren’t even related to the content on your website! The more quality websites that link back to your website the better. Getting links to your website is a great way to boost your Google ranking.

Research your competitors, finding out who links to their websites, and try to get links to your website from those sources. But make sure the sites linking to yours are high quality, relevant and use your keywords in their links if possible. If you buy traditional media, insist that they throw in an online link as a part of the deal. This costs them little and is a huge boon to your rankings.

The biggest thing you can do is have a good story that makes people want to link to you. Then tell people about it! What’s in a good story? Be funny! Newsy! A great resource! Controversial! Just get it out there!

Click here to read the second part of this post.