Search engines have revolutionized the way we use the internet. These resources have changed what used to be a cumbersome and sometimes overrated internet into what is now a powerful resource capable of providing information in a millisecond.

There is a reason why Google's stock has almost quadrupled over the past five years. People are using search engines to drive around the internet just as one would use a road map to go through America. If you want people to find your small town, you should make sure that the mapmakers put you in their book.

Likewise, you want to be on the proverbial map on the internet, the search engines must list your website. Getting listed alone is not enough, though. The successful companies get a ton of hits off of the internet because they are high on the search engine lists.

How do you get this top search engine ranking? There are many factors that can give you a top search engine ranking. The trick is hanging onto that ranking for an extended period of time. One staggering statistic to consider is that out all of the world's internet users, a full 85-90% of them use a search engine to help guide their way around the internet.

That provides great opportunity for websites to get found in a hurry. The only problem is that only about 7% of those who use search engines actually look beyond the first search page.

The message here is clear. If you do not have a top search engine ranking, we could care less about your website. That makes it easy for business executives to know exactly what they have to do in order to get visitors. They have to boost that search engine ranking. Since search engines rely so heavily on mathematical formulas to determine the search engine ranking, there is one factor that overrides all of the others. If the content of your website is good, then chances are it will have a good ranking.

Without good content, even the best search engine optimization techniques will not help you stay at the top of the rankings. In order for you top search engine ranking to have any sort of staying power, the website must feature loads of premium content. One factor that is gaining much more influence in how search engines rank their listing is the idea of link popularity. By using appropriate word tags to identify the subject matter of your content, it will become more popular. This is not secret, either. Folks should know that the title of their article should contain a tag that is popular and extremely searchable.

Many people think that they can cheat or trick the system by using a bad host that will continually boost them to the top of search pages even though their content is nothing related to that which the person searched. Stay away from this technique. While it might sound appealing in the short term, you will suffer losses in the long term.

Search engines are cracking down on these spammers and if you are caught doing this, your top search engine ranking will plummet and your content will be sent to the back of the line. The stigma associated with this sort of spamming is also something that companies can not easily overcome.

Gaining and keeping a top search engine ranking is not easy. The competition is fierce as companies jockey for search engine position. By using these basic techniques and sticking to the basics, you can guarantee yourself a spot in the upper echelon of search engine rankings. That is something that will certainly benefit your business greatly.

How to Create Backlinks to Your Blog

Many people create and a blog and post content to it. After a couple of days, they start to realize that no one is coming to read their posts. Blogging is not just about writing content and publishing it online. You need to be able to promote your blog if you want to get people to read your stuff. One of the most common ways to do this is with backlinks.

Backlinks can take people directly to your content. They are also good for helping your posts to climb up the search engine results pages. Now come the question of how to create backlinks to your blog. There are many ways to do this, so lets explore them.

Number One: Article Marketing

Artice marketing is a way of being able to create backlinks that has done for ages. The idea is quite simple. You write an article and link to your site somewhere in it. You then publish this piece of content to one of the many article directories that are online. The key is to make sure that you follow the publishing guidelines for the directory that you are using. Some only allow links in the resource or about the author box. There are also minimum word counts that you want to keep in mind when you are doing this for your blog.

Number Two: Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is similar to article marketing in that you create a unique piece of content and post it on another blog with a backlink back to yours. The differences are that you need to approach blog owners to be allowed to post on their site. The other key thing is that this can bring you a lot of direct traffic if you guest posting on a high traffic blog.

You can read a great
guest posting case study if you want to know more how to find opportunities for guest posting.

Number Three: Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is one of the easiest ways to create backlinks to your blog. There are many different sites on the Internet that allow you to do this. They usually only require a short 100 word or so blurb about what your post is about and allow you to link back to the page. Many bloggers start out creating backlinks with this very method for the ease in which they can do this.

Number Four: Blog Commenting

When you are trying to climb in the search engine results pages, it is often important to have high PR backlinks from sites on a similar topic to your blog. An easy way to do this is blog commenting. This is when you go to a blog on the same or similar topic and leave an insightful comment and if the owner allows a link back to your site. You want to make sure that you are adding something to the conversation and not just spamming the blog that you are commenting on.

Number Five: Forum Posting

Just like blog commenting, there is a fine line between adding to a conversation and spamming when it comes to forum posting to create backlinks to your blog. Most forums only allow links in your signature box, so you will want to make sure that you read the rules of the places that you are posting. Some even require a certain post content before your signature line will appear.

Author's Bio: 

Freelance Digital Marketing Strategy Consultant with a focus on SEO. I love writing tech related stuff while I drink my first coffee at 5 am. I also have 2 dogs that make my life complete.