Search Engine Ranking

Search engine ranking is a measure of the online promotional success of a web page or website. Its success is determined by how high you score in the search engine on a particular search query. The search query being either a KEYWORD or a Key Phrase that you types in the search box of the engine. The closest one to the top or the number one spot is usually the first one picked and can get there site viewed by the freshest visitors or potential clients/customers. The top five are the most sought after positions but if you still land on the first page thats not to bad either. Many searchers will be satisfied with the first page or two, so getting a top 20 or 30 listing can have an impact on a website's success.

Most search engines default to ten organic or natural listings per page. Organic or natural meaning not paying to be there or artificially there. Many include sponsor links before or to the right of the results. Those sponsored links or pay per click links are a great way to put yourself at the top quickly put are not always the best method to advertise for three main reasons:

1.   The obvious cost of the advertisement which in some cases depending on the Keyword query you are trying to advertise in could be extremely expensive.

2.   Majority of people on the internet know that the top ten are not paid to be there and are organic, meaning that they probably have on there site the information the consumer is looking for.

3.   The pay per click people leave there meta-tag descriptions on there sites as there slogans which usually does not contain the words that the searcher is looking for. In turn the search field viewer of their results doesn't see there query being displayed in the paid advertising and there for has less frequency to choose that particular site.

You have two choices to get your site ranked high on a search engine with out paying:

1.   is to have a website built around a keyword or phrase that is not searched for as frequently as others in that same field. Ex: "pools" is a popular keyword some on would use in looking for pools, but if your site specializes in indoor pools then maybe a phrase like "Heated Indoor Pools" or even more specific "Heated indoor pools in Maryland"

2.   is to have your website optimized by a Web master with SEO skills like us (Your Online SEO). Then you can compete with the big boys on the popular keywords like pools. I learned a good rule of thumb for the optimized sites is to exploit the first tool mentioned also and get all the customers you can Sorry first tool users, the first lesson you will learn is that the internet market place has room for everyone but it is still survival of the highest ranked.