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Search Engine Optimization or SEO for short is what people are asking about when they tell me they 'want to get to the top on Google', even if they don't use those words.

There are tried and true processes to achieve good search engine visibility in a way that the search engines sanction, but there are also 'tricks' that some SEO 'experts' will use to try and achieve the same results without really following the rules that Google (and the other search engines) have in place. These 'tricks' are called Black Hat SEO after the old iconic image of the bad guy always wears black.

So why do I refer to them as 'tricks' and why do the search engines care?

Remember why people go to a search engine--they are looking for information they don't have, but need. People end up with a favorite search engine because they tend to find what they're looking for on with that search engine. If they find it is getting harder to find what they are looking for, they vote with their feet and find a new search engine. So the search engines want to keep you coming back by being as good as they can be at getting what you are looking for.

When you use Black Hat SEO tricks, you are not improving the quality of your information, nor are you improving the credibility of it. You're just trying to take advantage of the current search algorithm to get ahead of the competition. It's like taking a short cut in a race. In other words, it's cheating!

What happens when someone gets up high on Google for a search term that they are not really relavent or credible on? You, the searcher, are disappointed and look elsewhere, maybe usig a different search engine in the process.

That's why Google cares. It's in their self interest to get you to the most relevant and credible information available for your search. That's good goal alignment!

But, sometimes people do use these Black Hat SEO 'tricks'. What can Google do about it anyway? Quite a lot actually. They can remove you from their index altogether if they like. Now you don't show up at all, let alone at the top! Sometimes they are not as harsh and just force you down until you prove yourself worthy. Don't believe it happens? Read the article in the following link on the NY Times to see how they removed BMW's German site completely from the index and are more recently pushing JC Penney down from number 1 to below number 50 for millions of search terms. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?pagewanted=1&ref=general&src=me

So, what do you do to 'get to the top of Google' without falling into this trap? Work with a credible and ethical SEO firm. If they promise to get you to the top quickly, run away! They should tell you that it is a lot of work and will take time. Remember, you're trying to be the most relevant and credible source of information on the Internet for a particular search phrase. Across the entire world! Needless to say, you need to be careful when picking your topic!

I'm attending a 3 day training course on business networking this week. It's all about word of mouth business and how you go about creating networks that want to refer business to you.

In the internet world  we have an equivalent thing. It's called an incoming link. That's where someone puts a link on their web site to your web site. A simple thing, yet so powerful. Think about it for a minute. That person is willing to have their vistior leave their site and go to your site. They obviously believe that you provide something of value that will be of use to that visitor.

Google pioneered using incoming links as part of their ranking algorithm years ago and it is a big reason that they have grown as big as they have. They essentially leveraged all the research and relationship building that we all have done in our lives and are now sharing through our web sites. An incoming link is a sign of trust and usefulness. That helps Google and other search engines judge the usefulness of your web site.

So as you are networking and building relationships in the real world, do the same on line. It will help your search engine rankings.

I talk to a lot of people that want to get more traffic to their web sites. In the last post I talked about getting into the local directories on Google, Yahoo and Bing/MSN/Live so that you could show up in their map listings, both on map searches but also on general search result pages.

Today I'm going to talk about the most direct approach to building traffic to your web site. That is search engine advertisements. You've seen them on most of the search pages you get. They're the sponsored links down the right side and sometimes at the top or bottom of the page. These are paid advertisements Internet style.

Most of the people I talk to claim to never click on these links or to not even look at them. I laugh and tell them that I call that the 'National Enquirer' effect. No one admits to buying the tabloid, but they keep publishing it anyway. As for sponsored links, let me tell you that Google makes most of their money from people clicking on those links and they make a lot of money! Advertisers are using it more and more every year.

The reasons are simple. First your ad only shows up in front of interested people. You can limit it geographically, by search phrase and by other methods as well. These people are actually looking for what you offer!

Second, you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Not when it's displayed, but when it's worked and someone is now sent to you web site. Here's a really interested prospect that has chosen your web site. It's up to you to make the sale, but here's a pre-qualified lead for a relatively low amount of money.

Third, you can send them to pages in your web site that relate directly to what they're looking for. You don't have to send them to your home page (although you can.) Best practice is to send them to a landing page that you've written to tie directly to your ad. So here you have an interested prospect looking at a page on exactly what they're interested in.

Fourth, you can see exactly what is going on. All of the PPC providers give you incredibly valuable data on your campaign. It is a gold mine of market research that's very focused on your market and is incredibly fresh.

There are lots of other reasons, but the real reason it's so popular--it works! And the data is there for you to verify that it is working.

So, what are you waiting for? Someone is searching for your product or service right now! Are they going to end up on your web site?

Do you remember something called the "Yellow Pages?" I do and many of my clients do as well. But my 20 something son and his friends think it's just too funny for words. They have something better at their fingertips virtually all the time. It's called "the Internet." Heard of that? Of course you have.

I've gotten into the habit of asking groups I speak to a couple of questions. First, how many of you have used the yellow pages in the last week? I'll often get one or two, depending on the size of the group. Then I ask them how many of you have used the Internet to look something up in the last week. Usually every hand goes up (and it doesn't seem to matter what the average age is.)

The message is not lost on anyone in the room, nor you I suspect. The yellow pages is not dead, but it is definitely not the '600 pound gorilla' that it used to be. Some businesses still get a lot of business that way, but even those businesses are growing their Internet lead generation.

The yellow pages used to be how we all found local services. Today we get more and better information online. There are many local directories that have been working to replace the yellow pages for several years and they may be great resources for your business.

But, people have gotten used to using search engines to look stuff up and local services are in that 'stuff' category. So you need to show up when people are looking for your services. There are lots of ways to show up, but I'm only going to discuss one of them in this post. It's the local business directories of Google and Yahoo.

Both search engines display a map with a number of local businesses when you add a city name to your search. They're even starting to show them if they can figure out where you are from your IP number. The local business directories are how you get onto those maps. Both search engines offer free versions for basic listings. Yahoo has enhanced listings for monthly fees. Bing (the latest Microsoft search engine incarnation) has a version as well.

You should get your business listed in all of these directories--they're free! And the maps show up high on the search engine results pages. Always above the organic listings and sometimes at the very top of the pages. If you show up on the page one map, that's often the highest position on the page. And did I mention that it's free?

Now, just adding your business to the directory is not a guarantee that you will show on page one. You'll do better if you fill out as much of the information as you can. Try to use your primary keywords somewhere in the listings.

I also believe that the quality of your website (which should be included in your listing!) will play an important role in your placement. It's not clear that that is the case now, but I think the search engines are smart enough to figure out that people want to check out a company before doing business and today that means looking at their website. The better the website, the better the user experience and the better they feel about their search engine experience as well.

So, keep on doing what you doing and continuously improve your websites. But add the business listings as soon as you get done reading this post!

Here are the links to get you going:

• Google: http://www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter
• Yahoo: http://listings.local.yahoo.com/
• Bing: https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx

My daughter just got married! Going through the planning process was quite an education for everyone involved. One aspect of it all made me think about search engine visibility.

Most SEO experts will tell you that getting the right keyword phrases is the most critical and first step. You can't optimize until you decide on that set of phrases. Many things go into selecting just the right set of keywords. They have to be focused enough to give you a good chance to succeed, but not so narrow that no one searches for them.

As part of the decision process you should consider who your real competitors are and think about how they might be found. I'm not talking about other people that do what you do. I'm talking about people that provide substitutes for what you do. A simple example would be if you wanted to provide information about how to do something. People that actually perform the service are competitors, not just other providers of the information. Conversely, you are their competitor as well and can show up for search terms that they are interested in.

The wedding made me think about another way to show up in interesting searches. How about complementary services and products? People who look for wedding photographers are usually also interested in cake makers and bands and caterers and florists and the list goes on and on. Who provides complementary services and products to yours? What search terms do they want and are any of them good candidates for you to optimize on? Some may be easy pickings compared to your obvious terms!

I often get this question: how much does it cost to get to the first page of Google? People definitely get that being on page one is the place to be. But the question begs many more questions and doesn't really have a straight answer. For example, to get on the first page of Google for a search phrase like "random search phrase framework for monkeys" will be much cheaper and easy than achieving it for a phrase like "Nike shoes".

So my first question back is always, "for what search term?" Unfortunately I often get an answer like "for everything about my business." At that point I often begin the education process about how search engines work. I shouldn't do that however. I'm trying to catch myself and redirect the conversation to a more productive topic such as "why do you want to do that?" Eventually I can get the conversation around to tangible business goals that would benefit from good placement on the search engine results page.

Eventually I can usually get people to ask about how I can help them sell more of some specific products to a particular market segment. Then I can tell them what I'd recommend and structure a proposal.

The thing to remember is that being number one on any search engine does not guarantee business success. You can be number one for phrases that do not generate business. How about being number one for the 'worst customer service' in your city? You need to decide what phrase can bring you business and then find versions that you can rank highly for because you produce highly relevant content about that phrase. And then you have to be able to convert the traffic that will follow.

I guess I'm trying to say that you should not fixate on a particular Google ranking. Clarify your business goal; find relevant search phrases, start advertising for those phrases for quick results, figure out how to convert that traffic into sales and then work on increasing your natural ranking using the money you make on the prior step.

Take the ego out of the equation and focus on the business results. If your competitor outranks you--so what? Out earn them and laugh all the way to the bank!