Have you ever wondered how to get your web site or blog found and indexed higher up in the search engines? There is a little known trick I have found and I will share it with you today.

Before I tell you the secret, allow me to brag a bit about the results I have gotten, in a very short period of time, by using this fantastic technique. On www.google.com using the search term “gimp glass button tutorial” I have gotten the #2 position on the first page. I check my site stats regularly and have been seeing this search term, as well as other similar terms, referred to in my analytics.

Page 1 Second Spot on Google

The above image is an actual screen capture of my search results. You can see that my post was created on Jan. 17, 2013 and today is February 10, 2013. In fewer than 30 days Google has picked up, indexed and ranked my post in the top five results for my search term. If you are not getting these types of results, give me a call at (704) 249-3825 and we can get to work boosting your search engine rankings.

OK, now for the secret. Would you hate me if I told you there is no secret? As bloggers and web site owners we often forget what search engines are actually for. They are not made to help people on the internet find your web site, they are to help searchers on the internet find relevant content that matches their search terms. The two scenarios sound similar, but are actually polar opposites. Search engine developers strive to provide their visitors with the best results possible based on their search. So, how does a web designer get to the top? Simple, stop trying to get to the top! Start writing your posts for the people who will be reading your content. Use the best possible spelling and grammar you can. Your grammar does not have to be perfect, but it needs to at least look and sound like the language it is written in.

Here are a few bullet points that may help:

• Watch your spelling. THERE, THEY’RE and THEIR are NOT interchangeable. “Their is a boat on the water” makes absolutely no logical sense. Computer algorithms will discard this as meaningless.
• ALT tags and <meta> tags should always be used. This is as close to SEO black arts (“black hat” in SEO lingo) as you should ever get. Make sure your ALT and <meta> tags are relevant to your content.
• There is a time and place for the Ellipsis (…) Yes, I know, I am guilty of this one too. WE should immediately stop using the ellipsis as a stand in for proper grammar. Let’s try to not confuse the search engines algorithms.
• Write for human readers. Don’t try to “fool” the search engines. You may actually be successful fooling them. However, once they discover the spoof (and they will) you will be penalized and your site may never see a top 1000 result ever again (OK, so I am being a bit over the top, but you get the picture).

My secret: stop looking for secrets. Write good content. Share, teach and contribute, you will be amazed at just how powerful this little “secret” will work for you.