Your web site is finally up and running, and it’s been submitted to a number of search engines. You have even waited the four to six weeks indicated that it will take to have your web site reviewed. Then why oh why can’t you find it when you put in a search?

With tens of millions of web sites on the Internet today, is it any wonder why it would be difficult to for search engines to find a single new web site? Competition from other more established sites, and large companies with dedicated professional Search Engine Optimizers (SEOs) make it extremely difficult to get your site placed in even the top 100.

Take heart, if you have enough time and patience, it is possible to place well in many search engines. You just have to know the three basic rules of good search engine optimization.

Rule number one: good content.

Good content is comprised of useful information regarding your web site and also includes graphics that make sense to the user. When writing your site’s content, you should decide which keywords or keyword sets will most likely be used to find your web site in a search. Aside from your content’s descriptive and marketing text, you need to incorporate these keywords as frequently as is reasonable. Search engines, referring to this as keyword density, and use this density as one of their indicators when ranking your site.

To help increase keyword density, make sure that applicable tag attributes are being used. Attributes such as the well known META tags and IMG tags are great ways to build more keywords into the content. Search engines see these tags even though your users don’t and most will apply them to your density level.

Rule number two: link popularity.

Link Popularity refers to the number of links from other web sites pointing back to your site. Search engines will consider your site more important with each well ranked link, and place it higher in the index.

The important thing to remember is not the quantity of the links, but the quality. Links returning to your site should come from sites similar in interest or content as yours. For instance, if you sell widgets, there may be a site out there that provides a list of widget companies. All you need to do to get a link back to your site is ask – the worst they can do is say “no”. To smooth the road you can offer a reciprocal link to their web site (many will require this in exchange for a link to your site anyway). Make sure beforehand that your site has an area that can display these links, as many web sites will check to be sure you are complying with the agreement.

Another way to garner additional links is by making sure that your Chamber of Commerce, if you are a member, links back to your site. Traditionally Chambers provide very strong links. Asking any other organizations that you may be a member of to link back to your site, will assist with a stronger link campaign.

One word of caution, make sure you don’t become a “link hub”. It is well known that by doing so you can actually diminish your site’s ranking, especially with Google. Keep the number of reciprocal links to a reasonable number.

Rule number three: fresh content.

Another factor that will help with your rankings is keeping your site’s content fresh. Updating the content on your site at least every six months or so will keep the search engines coming back for updates. Make sure that you have a “Last update on” statement somewhere on your key pages, and update that only when you have updated the content. If the search engines come in and see a new date but don’t find any fresh content, they may see your site as “crying wolf” and be less likely to review it more often.

Monitor your competition, the sites that are ahead of yours in search engine results, to see what they are doing with the same keywords you are using. Where do they use them, how often, and to what extent? Can these techniques be applied to your own site? Don’t be afraid to follow the leader a little bit in an effort to win the search engine battle. Just be sure you don’t copy their content verbatim.

Google provides an excellent aid in this battle for good rankings. Their toolbar has a feature called Google PageRank, that when enabled, allows you to see how well your page or any other page on the Web ranks with Google. This ranking system is commonly known as GPR. With a GPR of 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest), Google provides a decent barometer by which other search engines may view your site’s pages as well.

If you are willing to put in some time and effort by working at a good link building campaign, building good keyword density into your site’s content, and keeping an eye on the competition, you can make a difference in how well your web site will rank in just about every search engine.