rankings,
page design,
meta tags,
keywords,
placement.

After the content is set, I choose a good title. In this case, I'm going to pick "Designing a High Search Engine Rankings Page". That may not be perfect, and it will need some refining, but its a good start.

Next, I go for the meta description:
"Designing a web page for high search engine rankings. An easy to follow step-by-step page building guide to give your page high placement. This can lead ... " Again, not perfect, but a good start.

Next: the meta keywords. First, I take and I index the page. I strip down the page itself into nothing but a series of words. Then I sort the words alphabetically to give me a list of the words on the page. I strip out all the fluff words (a's,the's, is, etc). What I'm left with, is a list of 50 or so critical words that appear on this page (at this point).

I again stare at the list and pull out the bigger fluff words (become, your, good, going). I make sure that I don't pull out anything that may "bond" with another word or phrase (High search engine placement - so I keep the "High").

Next, I look at the list and kick out almost everything that doesn't relate to this page (making sure to keep the "bonded" words).

At this point of keyword development (above this line), the following would be my starter keywords:

advice, alphabetically, building, case, content, description, design, designing, engine, example, explain, help, high, instructions, keywords meta, page, pages, pick, placement, possible, process, guide, ranking rankings, reciprocal, refine, refining, search, step, strip, tags, title words, web page

From a count of each word, I can see that I've not used my original keywords nearly enough. Rankings is only used once, meta tags only used twice, and placement is only used to describe it as a keyword. This will not do - so, by the time you read this, I've probably already gone back through the above content and worked in my keywords to a better degree. It is critical that the keywords you want to be your "biggies" get reinforced for that high search engine ranking.

I try to keep my initial build of keywords under 250 characters. I reserve the remaining space for the critical followup work to come.

Next, I html'ize the page and get it ready to put out to the world. That includes validating my html (I use WebLint), spell checking, and giving it a good proofing from the browser. Of course, I add in a logging line to log all page hits.

Now the fun begins, I submit it to all the major search engines and kick back and wait for you to show up at this page (HI THERE! Welcome to my page - glad you found it, I bet it was from a search engine! )

Ok Ok, you've looked through my site, you've studied everything, I guess it is time I give you a major tip for your page. Here comes the one and ONLY trick to high search engine placement. I call it Retro Keyword Design.

Watch your Referring Links. I use some logging software (AXS) that tracks the referring URL. I watch those referring urls like a hawk. Once a week, I strip down the referring urls into nothing but the search engine referrals. I rip out the keywords people used to find my page. I look for combinations of words that people are using and slowly start to refine and rebuild my meta keyword tag. That *is* the trick folks, refining your keywords AFTER the page has been published based on the referrals, NOT before it has been indexed. Its like letting the search engine TELL YOU what it wants to be fed for keywords.

For example, a referral from Infoseek showed a search for "search engine position tips". I look at the referral for the words I don't have in my tag (this example it would be "tips"). I would add tips into my meta tag. I will continue to do this process until I use up my limit of 744 chars.

If you have really good logging software, some programs can actually strip down the referring links and count the words used from the referral line. I do the same thing semi-manually. What it gives me, is a total count of the referring search words used to find my page. I put those words near the front of my meta keyword tag. What I accomplish is finding the most often searched for keywords and then compliment it with the secondary keywords. Searches on the big keywords pick up the "fluff" third and forth keywords that people use in a search - you cover all the basis.

How and why it works:

Everyone is going to find your page based on one or two keywords but everyone is searching with three or four keywords. The third or fourth keyword they type in, is one of the true "pull words" that is going to get people to your site. Once you start to find the pull words, your site will begin to show up in more and more search results across multiple wide ranging searches that you would never imagine. It also insulates you from people stealing your keywords because your only going to show up under those searches where you've reinforced your keywords to make your site relevant. So if Joe User steals your keywords, he is not going to find himself next to you in the search engine results (he just wont have the relevancy you have).

I think it is absolutely hilarious to listen to people talk about being first on the search engines under one keyword. I'd rather be found 20'th under 10 various keywords than first under one keyword. The goal is not getting high placement for one word (that will never last), the goal is getting high placement under dozens of keywords and phrases.

Finally, I have theory that I've been unable to prove or disprove. The theory states that your site gets a higher ranking based on the number of times your site is returned in various searches. I think some of them (Google,Yahoo and Altavista) score the number of times your site shows up in results. I don't know how to prove that theory, but I've seen this effect on several different sites - its as if success is breeding success. Once you start to turn up across multiple phrases there is a magic flash point where your rankings congeal, and the sky is the limit.

Post notes:

I've just read a story that indicates that one major search engine is going to start including "result hits" in its algorithm. Meaning, your going to get a higher ranking based upon the number of times your site is returned in results

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