SEO positioning – that is, ranking well on the search engine results pages (SERPs) – is the goal and the dream of every online marketer, or at least it should be. No other method for driving traffic is as effective as this free resource. Not even paid methods can approach the effectiveness of good quality optimization.

SEO positioning is not as hard as it may seem. However, those who know how to optimize a page or a website typically keep that information a closely guarded secret. They fear the competition that such knowledge could generate in the hands of the average business person, rendering the common marketer, well… not so common. While this notion is understandable, it doesn’t promote the general commerce!

The fact is, the keys to online business success could be in a dish right on your coffee table, but 95% of all people wouldn’t get off the couch to pick them up. This information is out there if you know where to look, but it’s often hiding amid the clutter of old, incomplete or useless information. Well, I’m giving it to you here and now, as I got it straight from Google’s mouth and a handful of other reliable resources. Plus I can tell you from firsthand experience: this stuff works.

Here are 5 steps that you can immediately take for positioning your site high in the search engine results pages. You can set up a payment plan and slip a cool $1500 into my PayPal account monthly if you want, and I’ll do the work for you. But instead I encourage you to be among the top 5% and actually put these tips to work yourself.

The search engines, especially Google, are committed to showcasing the highest quality sites, presenting information that readers will trust. Here are 5 steps to demonstrate that you’re an expert or enthusiast on your site’s topic.

1) High Search: Use terms that everyone’s looking for. Your site’s main keyword should be very popular with your readers. You can fact check this through keyword research tools, popular ecommerce sites such as Amazon, forums and answer pages like Yahoo! Answers, and social networks. Your first step will be to check your term’s Global Monthly Searches using the Google keyword research tool at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.

2) Low Competition: Use terms that few people are delivering on. The fewer pages on the Internet there are that concern your main keyword, the better your chances of positioning well in the search engines.

3) Pagerank: Take a look at the pagerank (Google’s quality score) of your competition for your chosen term before committing to using that term. Perform a Google search on your chosen term, and check the pagerank of the top 10 sites. Look for an average pagerank below 3.0 to ensure that your site has a chance to overcome the competition.

4) King Content:  Bill Gates said it best way back in the ’90s: “Content is king.” Provide useful, relevant, original content. Google has been the Number One website on the Internet for about a decade because their chief business is delivering users the best content on the Internet. Give Google what they want, and you will surely be found by the other search engines as well.

5) Link Love & Likes: Share your information with as many people as possible. This means linking to your main keyword article when you leave useful comments on quality blogs and forums. It also means generating discussion using social media such as Facebook and Twitter, creating interest and excitement about your content, and creating buzz wherever possible.

The best question to ask yourself about SEO positioning is, “Is this content that I would benefit from?” If the answer is yes, and you’ve followed these 5 steps, you stand a good chance of getting found on the Internet.

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