How to get high search engine rankings

[Ironside]

I made the mistake of signing up to one of these so-called search engine optimisation tools a year or so ago, now get bombarded by e-mails offering me all sorts of offers and deals. I got an e-mail today on how to get high search engine rankings. They weren't trying to sell me anything, however they were offering a free webinar which I thought I would take a peek at. Straight away, I could see a problem. For a start, this guy was boasting about how he has got several of his website to number one on Google and would probably be number one whoever searched for the two phrases he used. However he was signed into his Google accounts whilst doing the searching. Now forgive me if I'm wrong, but don't you get biased results if you are searching your own website when signed into your Google account? Also, when I searched for the website he maintained that number one, I couldn't even find it on the first page of Google. That these people are supposed to be experts, what is an expert? Well, X is an unknown quantity, and a spurt is water under pressure :-)

[WP4J]

Yeah this tricked me once lol, I was signed in to my google account and thinking WOW my site is number 1!!!! I soon found out that this is not the case!

IN regards to SEO, I think the best way is fresh content - you can play around with metadata and such, but really, the internet is about constant, up to date, information and if your site is providing that it should rise in the rankings.

[Ironside]

These so-called experts seem to be making an awful lot of money out of mass e-mails and clever wording that makes you think they can perform miracles. I am by no means an expert, however I have several personal websites that rank highly on Google, oscarfishlover.com ranks highly, often number one on Google for loads and loads of phrases. However, I've not used any fancy tools, I've created helpful articles that people want to read. You don't need all these silly software that cost a fortune, you can find out where you rank on Google quite easily by their quick search on finding lots of free tools out there. My advice to anyone is not to make it too complicated, page heading needs only two or three major keywords for you to do really well. Once you figure out what people are typing into the search engines, the rest is child's play. The most useful tool is Google analytics, I couldn't do without that.

Oh yes, I forgot. Always log out of your Google account when searching any of your own websites, especially when they are included Webmaster tools, whether that plays a big part I'm not sure. Like you said, I fell into that trap of thinking that I was doing really well, websites or at number one and I was really happy. However I when I searched my website from a completely different location, they weren't anywhere near the top like they were on my computer at home.

[WP4J]

Too right mate,

I am of the exact same opinion - I have never used these "services" and my site has got a good ranking for it's focus keywords - I guess things might be different if you are competing for some really popular keywords, but still, hard work and fresh content will get you there in the end. Search Engines have evolved over the years and they pretty much can tell if you are offering quality information.

One thing I have noticed is that it is a good start to have your main keywords in your domain name, this seems to give a bit of a boost in rankings I think.

[andrewbenjee]

Too right mate,

I am of the exact same opinion - I have never used these "services" and my site has got a good ranking for it's focus keywords - I guess things might be different if you are competing for some really popular keywords, but still, hard work and fresh content will get you there in the end. Search Engines have evolved over the years and they pretty much can tell if you are offering quality information.

One thing I have noticed is that it is a good start to have your main keywords in your domain name, this seems to give a bit of a boost in rankings I think.

Absolutely correct WP4J that if you have some of your keywords in the domain name that will help in increasing/boosting your pagerank on google.

Also, as many have discussed here that while you are logged into google account you get incorrect search results, this is very true due to a term called - "Google cache" as your website is being cached by google and hence if you are logged into your own google account then it will surely show your site's ranking good.

Now to overcome this you can use a site called pagewash.com -it's a site using proxy and with this you will get accurate results of your site's ranking. There are some other sites too which help you find this.

Regards,
Andrew

[Bladhark]

Too right mate,

I am of the exact same opinion - I have never used these "services" and my site has got a good ranking for it's focus keywords - I guess things might be different if you are competing for some really popular keywords, but still, hard work and fresh content will get you there in the end. Search Engines have evolved over the years and they pretty much can tell if you are offering quality information.

One thing I have noticed is that it is a good start to have your main keywords in your domain name, this seems to give a bit of a boost in rankings I think.

Absolutely correct WP4J that if you have some of your keywords in the domain name that will help in increasing/boosting your pagerank on google.

Also, as many have discussed here that while you are logged into google account you get incorrect search results, this is very true due to a term called - "Google cache" as your website is being cached by google and hence if you are logged into your own google account then it will surely show your site's ranking good.

Now to overcome this you can use a site called pagewash.com -it's a site using proxy and with this you will get accurate results of your site's ranking. There are some other sites too which help you find this.

Regards,
Andrew

It's indeed true that your site got cached, but I always check it in another browser, that does the trick too. Just do not click on your website when you see it in that browser.

[Filmproducer]

Oh yes, I forgot. Always log out of your Google account when searching any of your own websites, especially when they are included Webmaster tools, whether that plays a big part I'm not sure. Like you said, I fell into that trap of thinking that I was doing really well, websites or at number one and I was really happy. However I when I searched my website from a completely different location, they weren't anywhere near the top like they were on my computer at home.

Yes, absolutely. If you're logged into you Google account and you've visited your own website dozens or hundreds of times, a Google search will tell you nothing at all about your real rankings. One tool that I often use is Impersonal Me (http://www.impersonal.me). It lets you see the 'neutral' Google SERPs without the influence of your personal search history. It also allows you to see Google searches from different geographical locations. There may still be *some* influence from your personal search history, but you do get much more 'neutral' results this way.

[valdonatas]

I'm a DIY SEO enthusiast, running a small company and I developed my business website from scratch myself. I am now bombarded by all sorts of offers for SEO - one "better" than another. Since the start I never used paid services and I do it only with good tools, such as majesticseo(dot)com - what it allows for a free membership
And absolutely, this happened to me too - I was checking positions of my website. It appeared doing very well, but when I logged out of the google account - the picture was different.

[jimmymarkovic]

This is a great trick. You are smart to discovered it.

[luanletmp]

In relation to SEO, if your site has good content and salaries as well as links to access healthy, it will quickly be shown on search results

[michalp]

Recently, SEO strategies, like link building, are not that important as before. I've noticed that the websites that are made to help users can rank very well even without link building. If you write in-depth articles and reviews you will simply rank well for long-tail keywords.

[ansya78]

I believe millions of people are doing the same SEO methods, so the only thing will differ you from the rest is your wonderful contents.

[ZapeTR]

Getting other sites speak well of you, the more backlinks you will have more importance search engines. Course, without resorting to SPAM.

I think the ideal is to create good content, a good website that can give that talk on internet.

Greetings!

[romeo407]

I think overall great content trumps all else, the general idea is that if you provide valuable content then others will naturally link to it and as the above poster stated you get more long tail keywords.

[runbch]

Look at what the high ranking sites are doing and use that to improve your site. Use google adword to look into your keywords.

[immizz]

Yep I also do believe that content is the king. Put fresh content in your site and watch it rise up in Google

[ameritrustlaw]

As they always say, "Content is King"

[Milkoviz]

New content is much more important than quality backlinks. One thing that may also help is SSL. Google seems to rank those sites higher in search results.

[sensorprobe]

I'm trying to get a website up in Google rankings.

Is the best approach to create a lot of quality articles regarding computer room temperature?

[Tonie]

@sensorprobe. Please note that this is a forum for Joomla websites, not Wordpress.

[mike1179]

Be careful when hiring these so called SEO experts. They could destroy your website's trust ranking with Google. The new Panda update is extremely sensitive, so any types of black-hat or grey-hat tactics that the SEO company uses will be noticed. Using too many of these frowned upon SEO tactics could not only lower your websites ranking, but they could potentially get you removed from the Google directory. If you are going to hire a SEO professional, do your homework and look for a credible company that has proven and verifiable results.