Here is a list of six of the most important search engine ranking factors as voted for by 37 leaders in the world of organic search engine optimisation.

The original list was put together at SEOmoz by Rand Fishkin, CEO & Jeff Pollard, Web Developer back in April, 2007 as 'Search Engine Ranking Factors V2'.

There were five categories of search engine ranking covered:
Keyword Use Factors | Page Attributes | Site/Domain Attributes | Inbound Link Attributes | Negative Crawling/Ranking Attributes

I'm not totally in agreement with the order of the list, personally ranking some factors differently than the 37 SEO experts, but overall there is no argument with the fact that applying Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques to these will help get your website better rankings.

This top six list takes the highest average scoring SEO ranking factors, with my comments attached. If you want to do the right things to develop a successful website you should take on board this advice.

No.1 SEO Tip

Keyword Use in Title Tag - Placing the targeted search term or phrase in the title tag of the web page's HTML header.

Good titles help everyone. They help the search engine categorise your site, they help the searcher know what to expect from your page, thus helping to increase CTR (Click-Through Rate) and they get better SERPS (Search Engine Ranking Positions).
 
No.2 SEO Tip

Link Popularity within the Site's Internal Link Structure - Refers to the number and importance of internal links pointing to the target page.

A good linking structure makes certain that important pages get enough emphasis in the same way good navigation structure on the web page helps visitors get around your site slickly.

No.3 SEO Tip

Global Link Popularity of Site - The overall link weight/authority as measured by links from any and all sites across the web.

Encourage people to link to your site by becoming an authority on your subject. In short, make a great website.

No.4 SEO Tip

Anchor Text of Inbound Link - These pieces affect Google's weighting of links from external websites pointing to a page.

Absolutely, but difficult to control.

No.5 SEO Tip

Keyword Use in Body Text - Using the targeted search term in the visible, HTML text of the page

Yes, this is important, but do NOT, whatever you do, 'spam' the targeted keyword(s). Only use the keyword phrase throughout the page where it makes sense. Search engines are sophisticated beasties and will apply topic analysis to learn what is truly relevant.

No.6 SEO Tip

Age of Site - As measured from the launch of indexable content seen by the search engines.

With the concept of 'authority' weighing so heavily in search engines' ranking factors these days, it is unsurprising that this factor featured in the top six. Of  course, the age of the site is not something you can do a great deal about, but perhaps it's worth bearing in mind that your website should be considered a long-term project. Don't just paste up a site and then leave it. It shouldbe regarded as an ongoing investment, not a one-off or single-quarter project. Retain the people, processes and budget to keep it working for your business after the initial implementation is complete.

In the next installment we will look at some of the Pay-per-Click programmes on the market and see what they can offer to the UK small business owner.

See also: How to set up your own website