Ever wondered why some sites rank higher in search engines than others do? Well...Search engine databases maintain billions of pages. They use a proprietary formula (or algorithm) to "score" the relevancy of websites for each search query. The highest ranking or "most relevant" websites for a specific query are listed first in the search results. There are over 100 criteria used for ranking a page, and each carries a different “weight” of importance. Some criteria we can control, some we can manipulate, and others we can’t do anything about. One of the most important criteria that we have control over is body content. The following “tweaks” can help your web pages rank better.

Headers, Bullets etc.
Make the copy look like a document with header tags, bullets, bolds, italics etc – focusing these features on the words that relate to the main topic.

Location, Location, Location
The closer the keywords or keyword phrases that best identify your topic are to the top of the document, the better. Try to have the keyword or keyword phrase appear in the opening sentence of the first paragraph and appear at least once in each paragraph.

Write Good Copy
Not only does it help satisfy the “related phrase” algorithm, it provides a sense of value to the reader, encouraging them to bookmark the site and return frequently.

Root Word
Search engines identify root words that might be pluralized or tensed so don’t discount them in your copy.

Word Count
250 to 300 words should be a minimum target per page if possible.

Title Tag
Get the primary keywords or keyword phrases as they relate to your topic in your title tag. Title tags don’t need to be long, but should highlight the main topic.
Example: <title>Tripod web hosting. Free web hosting, e-mail, and blogs</title>

Harmony
While most search engines doesn’t rank a website based on the description tag, having the primary keywords appear in the title, description and body content create a “harmony” that adds validity.