Top 7 Steps to Google Heaven

Every website owner wants to appear on the front page of Google, so here's a handy guide to achieving Listing Nirvana:

1. Be Owner of your Domain - none of this freebie rubbish. If you want a decent listing, you need to be hosted on a proper server with a proper domain name. The most it will cost you is £100 a year, so get rid of that freebie ISP web space now, OK?
   
   
2. Redirection? Indirection - not only do redirects and splash pages annoy your visitors, but they annoy the search engines too. At best they'll make the robot spider ignore you, at worst, they'll get you banned. GET RID OF THEM.
   
   
3. Text, Text, Text. Yes, your fully Flashed up site, or your fantastic front page graphic looks great. Really great. Just a shame no-one is going to see it, don't you think? Google can't index it properly, so what's the point? Your pages need text, so get writing.
   
   
4. Great navigation - we all know that men don't like to ask for directions, right? Then I'm guessing Google is a guy, because neither does he. Help the little guy out by making sure that your navigation is clear and obvious, and there are no scary dead ends (he's not much good at 3 point turns, either)
   
   
5. Titles are King - just like those poor people that buy a Lordship, each page of your site is yearning for a title. And not just any title, oh no. Does the front page of your site actually WANT to be called "Home Page"? Of course not!! He wants to be called something grand and important, and above all, useful. So think about the titles of each of your pages - they're more important than you think.
   
   
6. META is Better - OK, some people say that META tags are old news and don't count anymore. Well, I’m saying that they're wrong. So there. Include a META description and keywords tag in every page of your site. Why? Because I tell you to, that's why!
   
   
7. Be Intent on Content - ok, ok, some short sighted readers could read that as saying 'be incontinent', but I’m sticking with it. This is probably one of the most important things I’m going to say to you, so come closer... no, closer... IF THE PHRASES YOU WANT TO BE HIGH FOR AREN'T IN YOUR CONTENT, YOU WON'T GET LISTED FOR THEM!!!!. Ahem.... sorry, got a bit carried away there. But it's true.

Nikki Pilkington is owner/manager of NikkiPilkington.com, a Milton Keynes and Leicester based Internet Marketing Consultancy. http://www.nikkipilkington.com