You would be forgiven for believing that there is a real war involving Website Owners and Search Engine placement service Providers on one hand, and the huge Search Engines on the other. Loads of people seem to spend excessive amounts of time and effort devising schemes to con the search engine into putting them onto the top of the list. This of course leads the Search Engines to invent more and more complicated algorithms in order to sieve out and contest these efforts.

However, in real life, you have to place yourself in the shoes of the other person. You have to be aware of their interests, needs and threats, and come up with ways that really help the other side to improve their lot by helping you. By applying this thinking to Improving Search Engine ranking, I have got all my websites onto page 1 of the leading search engines.

Instead of trying to trick the search engines and their clients (the Searchers, your potential customer), try to give them respect, make it effortless for them to do their jobs, and show them you’re helping them. Recognise the fact that people searching for “Blue Shoes” don’t want to look at the “red shoes” that you sell.

To aid the Searchers to find you, you first have to help the Search Engines to do their job. Search Engines are in an incredibly competitive and unforgiving market. Their product is to take a searcher to a collection of sites offering exactly what he’s looking for. If you succeed in unintentionally or purposefully coning a search engine into sending you the wrong visitors, everyone, including you, loses.

The Searcher has had his time and effort wasted, the Search Engine has had its reputation damaged & perhaps even lost a customer. You have infuriated both of them, so you’re unlikely to sell anything to that Searcher in future. On top of that,the search Engine will probably downgrade the trust factor for your website, so that in future, even when it appears you have just what a searcher is looking for, the search Engine is likely to give priority others who haven’t tried to fool it.

Select your keywords very carefully, use them for your website & web page names, include them in your on page content. Steer clear of vagueness, especially in Keywords, Titles and Web & page Names. Get corroboration in the form of links from other websites that are in the same or associated industries.

Remember that Searchers on Search Engines are particularly unwilling to Search, so aim your efforts at attracting those who are really looking for exactly what you offer, and concentrate your efforts on being at the top of that list. The majority of searchers do not even scroll down the first page & over ninety percent never make it to page two.

If you use a Search Engine placement service, make sure they are ethical, and remember that whilst no-one can guarantee to your money back.

It is worth cataloging the basic principles to be enforced to increase website traffic and search engine rankings.

• Create a site with valuable content, products or services.

• Place primary and secondary keywords within the first 25 words in your page content and spread them evenly throughout the document.

• Research and use the right keywords/phrases to attract your target customers.

• Use your keywords in the right fields and references within your web page. Like Title, META tags, Headers, etc.

• Keep your site design simple so that your customers can navigate easily between web pages, find what they want and buy products and services.

• Submit your web pages i.e. every web page and not just the home page, to the most popular search engines and directory services. Hire someone to do so, if required. Be sure this is a manual submission. Do not engage an automated submission service.

• Keep track of changes in search engine algorithms and processes and accordingly modify your web pages so your search engine ranking remains high. Use online tools and utilities to keep track of how your website is doing.

• Monitor your competitors and the top ranked websites to see what they are doing right in the way of design, navigation, content, keywords, etc.

• Use reports and logs from your web hosting company to see where your traffic is coming from. Analyze your visitor location and their incoming sources whether search engines or links from other sites and the keywords they used to find you.

• Make your customer visit easy and give them plenty of ways to remember you in the form of newsletters, free reports, reduction coupons etc.

• Demonstrate your industry and product or service expertise by writing and submitting articles for your website or for article banks so you are perceived as an expert in your field.

• When selling products online, use simple payment and shipment methods to make your customer’s experience fast and easy.

• When not sure, hire professionals. Though it may seem costly but will increase website traffic, but it is a lot less expensive than spending your money on a website which no one visits.

• Don’t look at your website as a static brochure. Treat it as a dynamic, ever-changing sales tool and location, just like your real store to which your customers with the same seriousness.

You read little about networking in this context. Many website owners into SEO are fascinated with the technicalities, despite it being a very simple thing to do and thus miss one of the biggest opportunities to gain links, readers, and free website traffic.

Done right, a well built network of contacts, friends and like-minded website owners can seriously help you get the link love you need, both directly and indirectly.

For more ways to get website traffic – please visit this blog.