If you have a website that you want ranked with higher rankings, there are several things you can do on your own to increase rankings. One thing you can do is double check the usage of alt text and heading tags on your sight. I've noticed by not having heading tags and leaving the alt text blank, search engines like Google will rank you with a lower score. This has happened to some of my pages, so I am speaking from experience. Recently I did a revamp on some of the pages on my site and noticed that my page ranking had dropped. I couldn't figure it out until finally I caught a clue, and compared my old pages with the new ones...

Many people incorrectly believe that good meta tags are all that is needed to achieve good listings in the search engines, which is entirely incorrect. While meta tags are usually always part of a well optimized page they are not the be all and end all of optimizing your pages. In the early days of the web people were able to get great listings from optimizing just their meta tags, but the increasing competition for good search engine listings eventually led to many people spamming the search engines with keyword stuffed meta tags. The result is that the engines have changed what they look at when they rank a web page...

Of the most important on-page SEO factors, the content of each page is obviously important. However, the inclusion of a large number of pages also gives your site a lot of credence in the eyes of Google. This is because Google loves content, and the more of it you have the more weight you will receive. Obviously the quality, relevance, and optimization is important but generally speaking the more content you can provide the better. This content can come in various forms and by optimizing every page you can also target a much greater number of keywords with more effect..

Understanding the PageRank mechanism will give you a key insight as to how webmasters can use the information to increase a web page's ranking in the Google search engine report pages. It is based on a unique set of algorithms that evaluate certain data about a web page, thus assessing that page's popularity and relevance. A more technical approach defines PageRank as being a link analysis algorithm.

But PageRank is more complex than meats the eye…

Being a full-time SEM (Search Engine Marketer) I have been conditioned like Pavlov's dog (not a pretty picture) to jump every time Google twitches. Lately Google has been doing a lot of twitching.

Specifically, the rather startling news from Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Susan Moskwa that Google has ditched PageRank from Webmaster Tools..

The Google PageRank Toolbar in SEO circles is a hotly debated item, as are most issues dealing with Google. Some say it's useless, others say it gives you a general overview of your site's standing in Google. Regardless of who is right, this Toolbar shouldn't be ignored nor worshipped, just closely watched..

For the uninitiated, Google ranks all pages on the web with a scale of PR0 to PR10 - higher is better. High PR sites or pages receive most of the traffic for competitive keywords or phrases. Keywords are what surfers type into search engines to find what they're looking for on the web.