Allow me to answer this question because I AM on the top #1 spot in three different categories (first names, nursery rhymes, blonde jokes).\n\nCONTENT -- \nFirst and foremost, the content you have on your site is the most important and most crucial thing over anyting else that you can do to your site. What I advise my clients to do is to actually THINK like a search engine or if that is too abstract, think like someone who speaks a different language. \n\nAlthough search engines are getting much better at figuring out exactly what it is that is on the page, remember it is often impossible for them to decipher Java, Javascript, Flash, and other non-HTML components. This is NOT to say don't use them, just use them when they are to be used appropriately.\n\nBecause search engines ARE getting better at figuring out what is on a page, spelling and grammar are also very important. The rule of thumb is no more than three misspellings and no more than three gramatical errors on a page. Sentences should be of short to medium length and paragraphs should also be rather short.\n\nDO NOT COPY OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK. The search engines can penalize a site heavily for plagiarism.\n\nTAGS\n\nTitle Tags -- The most important of all tags is the Title tag. This is what shows up on the bars on the bottom of your computer screen. Most people make the mistake of putting their company name in the Title Tag and that is the worst thing to do (other than putting no tag at all). A Title Tag should be short and to the point and tell what the page is about and if you want to add your company name then add it at the END of the title tag not at the beginning.\n\nMeta Tags -- Meta tags were how search engines would know what was on a page... many years ago. However, with that said it is important that Meta tags are still added to your site and more importantly there are new meta tags (more than just description and keywords) that should be added to the web site such as content type and content language.\n\nMeta Description -- Meta description should start out with the SAME thing your TITLE tag says and then go into more detail. \n\nMeta Keywords -- Meta keywords are words used to describe what is in your page. First use keywords that are in the title and the description first. Then use keywords that are in the content of the page. DO NOT try to spam the search engines by using keywords that are not relevant to your content.\n\nAlt Tags -- With the advent of XHTML, ALT tags for images are now REQUIRED. The Alt tag is used for people who have their images turned off so it is important to have in the alt tag exactly what the image is but also expand on what it is. An example would be a HOME button. Instead of just having HOME as the Alt Tag, use Home -- Site Name.com. \n\nI have noticed that search engines love geography and it is good to put that in there whenever appropriate. If your company is in Kansas City, MO then put those in the Content and in the Tags.\n\nLINKS\n\nHaving links that send people to sites relevant to your site is always a good practice. People ask me where I get links and how do I get people to link to my site. The answer is very simple. First I ask. I write e-mails (NOT SPAM) to sites asking if they wish to reciprocate links with me and I also have on some of my pages a "Link to this Page" button so that web site owners can do it on their own.\n\nThere is great debate as to whether links to other sites that are not of the same category help, hurt, or are indifferent. From my ten years experience I have found that appropriate links DO NOT hurt your web site and could very well help in some instances.\n\nPRIVACY POLICY\n\nI won't go into much detail here but make sure you have one. So many people forget this and it is extremely important. You will NOT find a major web page that does not have a Privacy Policy attached to it.\n\nTRAFFIC\n\nObviously the more traffic you have coming to your web site the better. Not only ar
How to be among the first results on a search engine?