Search Articles

July 2006- The Myth Of The Silver SEO Bullet
by Christopher Shireman

“There has got to be something I am doing wrong!” How many people have said this while wondering why their website has not ranked on the first page of Google for the keyword they optimized their website for? After all, they bought that e-book on how to optimize their site for a specific keyword. They have the right keyword density, bolding, meta tags, and title content. They even went out and got a ton of links to point back to their web site with the keyword in the anchor text and it still isn't enough! What is going on here? Doesn't Google see that they are working their hardest to earn their placement for this keyword? At this point most people give up and just accept the fact that there is no silver bullet when it comes to search engine optimization.

The sad fact is that most of these people slave away only to come up empty handed, and wonder why. They stop just short of realizing their goals, which I find very disheartening. Is there such a thing as a silver bullet or a magic formula for optimizing a website for search engines? I firmly believe that magic formula and silver bullets should remain where they belong, in good fiction. However, there are some things that you can do to increase your rankings in Google and other search engines.

First, choose the right keywords for your site. These should not only be related to your site, but they should also not have a large amount of competition. When you are first starting out it is important to choose words that can be easily ranked for. This does a few things, first it builds your confidence in your SEO abilities, second it teaches you what the search engines like and don't like. Realize that you are not going to get it perfect the first time out and you will be fine. By starting with a non-competitive word, you can make some mistakes without having to worry about your profit margins.

Second, optimize the page as you have been, but back off on the keyword density. The on-page optimization factors are important, but they will not get you the ranking that you want. Think of the on-page SEO factors as a tie-breaker. When you create a website as equally valuable as another, the one with the best on-page SEO factors wins.

Third, get some people to link to your site. There are many ways to get links, forums, link exchanges, directories, discussion groups, and even link purchase. There is no one right way to do this, just make sure that when you have a link back to your site that you are using the keywords that you have chosen.

Fourth, make everything look natural. Search engines like to see people who work hard for their rankings, and they hate sites that are over saturated with keywords, just run ads, and have a thousand links today that they didn't have yesterday. Remember that there is no silver bullet and you will have to work for you rankings, or at least appear to do so.

Fifth, have patience. Ranking in the search engines takes time, Rome wasn't built in a day. Above all else, be consistent in your linking strategies and your content creation methods. Always be generating new links and content. Search engines look for people who are contributing to the greater good, not leaches who want to make a quick buck.

About the Author

There is a lot more to ranking highly in the search engines, but hopefully this will give you a good place to start. If you are having trouble coming up with your initial set of keywords, there is a keyword research service provided by shireman.net that can help you find the keywords with the least amount of competition that are easily optimized for. Check it out, there is even a free keyword search for the curious.

Note: These articles do not represent the advice or opinions of Apollo Hosting. They represent the thoughts, advice and opinions of the individual authors.