Ranking in Google for your chosen keywords can be accomplished with 3 simple steps. Let's discuss them one at a time.
1. Research the keywords you want to rank for.
Before you can optimize a site for the keywords you want to rank for, you need to know if those keywords are worth ranking for. It doesn't matter if you rank in Google for keywords that nobody is searching for. To find out how many searches are performed each month for a given set of keywords, use Google's AdWords keyword tool.
2. Assess the competition for your chosen keywords.
We'd all love to rank in Google for "life insurance" or "home loans", but the competition is incredibly fierce, and it would be very difficult for a one or two person team to accomplish. That's why it's important to asses the competition for your chosen keywords beforehand.
To find out how difficult it will be to rank for a given set of keywords, perform a search in Google for the keywords. Then, one by one, copy the URL of the top 5 ranking web sites and paste them into Yahoo's Site Explorer.
After pasting a URL into the site explorer, look at the number of "inlinks" shown. If any of the sites in the top 5 search results have fewer than 300-500 inlinks (incoming links to the URL), then you have a good chance of ranking well for those keywords.
3. Build links to your site using your given keywords as the link text.
To rank well in Google, the primary thing you need to do is build links into your web site that use the keywords you want to rank for as the link text. For instance, if you want to rank in Google for "small blue widgets", then you need links aimed at your site with the phrase "small blue widgets" as the link text.
However, you need to have a variety of link texts to prevent Google from thinking you are spamming their search engine. A good rule of thumb is the 60/30/10 rule: 60% of your links should have your primary keywords as the link text, 30% should have your secondary keywords, and 10% should have a third set of keywords.
Make sure you build your links slowly over time, at the rate of 3-5 links per day at most. If you build your links too fast, Google will think you're out to game their search engine and will not rank your site well. This is especially true if your site is brand new. Older sites can get away with a bit more links per day.
Research Is Easy, And Links Can Be, Too.
The research steps of search engine optimization (steps #1 and #2) are easy enough to perform on your own. However, to build the quantity of links you need in order for your site to rank in Google, and to build those links in the way that Google will reward, you need a proven link building system.
Is there such a system that automatically builds links to your site in the way that Google likes to see, helping you to rank in Google very quickly? Yes, there is. The system I strongly recommend has achieved thousands of top 10 rankings in Google for hundreds of webmasters, and can do the same for you as well.
