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5 Easy Ways to Rank Higher on Google

Written by Martin Wong on December 22, 2009

Ranking high on Google isn’t all about SEO and HTML tricks, but about regularly creating compelling and useful content that encourages people to return to your website. The beauty of Internet Marketing is that if you are creating effective content, then ranking well within your niche will be easy, provided you follow some important online marketing principles.

These 5 easy steps to ranking higher on Google’s search are tested and proven techniques that will enable you to increase your website’s ranking and overall traffic. Follow each of these guidelines and you will begin to see results in a short period of time.

1. Submit Your Business to Google Local

If your business is targeting local search traffic, you need to add your business to Google’s Local Business Center. Since most location-specific searches on Google now display Google’s Local Listings alongside an embedded Google Map (look at an example here) at the top of the search results, a Google Local listing is absolutely necessary.

Once you have signed up for Google’s Local Business listings you can customize your business’ Google Local page with pictures, videos and customer reviews. Since many businesses fail to make a compelling Google Local page, if you add some interesting content and get a few of your customers to review your business you will rank well in the local listings.

2. Submit Your Website to High PageRank Directories

I recommend against paying to have your website listed in directories since Google has publicly announced recently that they are no longer passing on PageRank from many of the spam-like directories on the Internet. The only two paid directories that I have attained good results from and are worth paying for a listing on are Business.com and Yahoo’s directory (both cost $299 per submission).

The best free directory to be listed in is the Open Directory Project or DMOZ. Google considers listings in DMOZ to be a strong vote of confidence in your website and one listing in this directory means you also get listed in the hundreds of directory partners that index DMOZ listings. The problem with DMOZ is that because it is volunteer-run, it can often take 3-6 months to get listed in the directory. That is why you should submit your website right away to the proper category for your business and then re-submit your website a maximum of once every month until you finally get a listing. Other free directories with high PageRank that can produce decent results are SearchSight, Jayde, SoMuch, One Mission,  Directory Storm, Infignos and Directory Free.

3. Get a Google Webmaster Account and Submit an XML Sitemap

A Google Webmaster account is an excellent tool for seeing how Google indexes your website and identifying any problems the Googlebot may be having with your website. In the Webmaster Tools section you can submit an XML Sitemap which will increase the number of pages of your website that Googlebot indexes and will also contribute to your website ranking higher.

Another useful feature is the site performance overview which measures the speed that your web pages load. Google has recently confirmed that site loading speed is a criteria used in their algorithm and that faster loading sites will rank better. For more information, you should read Google’s Webmaster Guidelines for creating effective content and ranking higher on their search engine.

4. Submit Articles to Article Directories

Writing interesting content and submitting it to article directories and syndication services is a great way to get vital backlinks to your website. When you submit to an article website like EzineArticles or Isnare, you can include a signature at the bottom that includes some author background and a few links back to your website. For the links to your website, make sure that you use targeted keywords in the link anchor to maximize the effectiveness of your article writing campaign.

5. Use to Google Keyword Tool to optimize your targeted keywords

Google’s Keyword Tool gives you the information about search volumes and popular keywords that you need to optimize your web pages.  Identify important keyword related to your business niche and then create specific content and blog posts related to those keywords. To optimize the content, place the keywords in the title tag, h1 heading tag and 4 or 5 times over the course of the content page. It is also useful to use internal link anchors in the content that contains the particular keyword or search phrase you are targeting.

Well, there you have it. Follow these 5 steps and you will be on your way to a higher ranking on Google.

Image Credit: manfrys / flickr (cc)