There are many methods you can use to increase search engine rankings of websites. You may think that this topic is confusing and involves some sort of advanced technical brain, which means you may have avoided working at it altogether. The good news is it’s not rocket science so you don’t have to be afraid of it.

One way to help earn you high search engine rankings and attract visitors to your site, is to optimize your pages to be search engine friendly. The closer to the top of the page that your site shows up on a search engine, the more traffic you will receive from people searching for your niche; it’s not so confusing when you think about it like that is it?

There is no need to spend hours or days searching for information on how to optimize your pages to climb the search engine ranks. Better still, you can evaluate your pages yourself; make a few small adjustments and see your site moving closer to the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Here are three tips to start you off in the right direction to increasing your search engine rankings:

1. Evaluate the title on the home page of your site.

This is the ‘Title’ tag for your site and is usually what is reflected in the simple colored header bar at the top of your website. This title should include the most important keywords or phrases related to your site, and of course your company name if applicable.

After you adjust your home page title, visit each page of your site and do the same for each one. The title on each page should include the most important keywords and phrases used on that page. Try to avoid repetition in the keywords and aim not to place identical words next to one another.

2. Optimize your content.

While graphics may make your site look good, the content is what a search engine is looking for. All text on your site should relate to and contain your keywords, these are the words that people search for to find information in your niche. It’s important not to stuff your content full of keywords but aiming to mention them in every 150 words or so will help the search engines more accurately determine what your content is about.

Try to have at least 250 words of text on each page; if your design limits the amount of text space available, try to have at least 100 words that are related to your subject. Text is essential to build your search engine ranking; it’s what the search engines can ‘read’ as opposed to a graphic which can’t be read as such.

3. Increase your link popularity.

Link popularity is another area that will need your attention and it’s far from the last in importance! In fact increasing your link popularity is the most important factor when you’re aiming to increase search engine rankings. Nearly all search engines use link popularity to award your website’s rank. The number and quality of links that point to your site determines your link popularity.

To check for the number of sites linking back to your site, simply visit Yahoo Site Explorer and enter the URL you want to explore; click on the Inlinks tab to see all the incoming links. If the sites linked to your site are low in authority or you don’t have many back links, it’s time to consider improving your link popularity.

Try the steps above to see if you can improve your ranking alone, and if not, consider hiring a search engine optimization expert. Try not to be intimidated by it all though and don’t expect instant results; just chip away at building links and writing great content.

Remember that if you can increase search engine rankings then you will have a better chance of potential customers finding your site.