For many clients and business owners looking for ways to get traffic, they quite frankly don’t understand the rules of the “Google Game”. And that’s because there’s no rule book. A great way to find out what the rules are is to look at the actual patent that Google has filed. (Filing date: Dec 31, 2003)

The patent, entitled Information retrieval based on historical data is an interesting document, and well worth a read if you are interested in how Google determines ranking, and the many factors involved.

This document which was submitted in December of 2003, and is as close to the actual rule book for how Google determines page rankings as you can find. If you want to know the rules of how Google is determining who gets number one page rank, have a read. Here are some interesting points from the patent. We have added our own interpretation for a few of the more relevant items:

A method for scoring a document, comprising:

6. determining an amount by which the content of the document changes over time
READ: Google likes Fresh Content

8. scoring the document based, at least in part, on the frequency at which and the amount by which the content of the document changes over time.
READ: Google likes Continual Fresh Content

24. the appearance of one or more links relates to at least one of a date that a new link to the document appears, a rate at which the one or more links appear over time, and a number of the one or more links that appear during a time period, and the disappearance of one or more links relates to at least one of a date that an existing link to the document disappears, a rate at which the one or more links disappear over time, and a number of the one or more links that disappear during a time period.
READ: if you are Buying Links in an effort to gain inclusing into the Google index, and get links from sites with high PR value, when you stop paying for the links, Google can potentially be tracking this information.

40. the domain-related information is related to at least one of an expiration date of the domain, a domain name server record associated with the domain, and a name server associated with the domain.
READ: IF you buy your domain names for 1 year in an effort to test the market, Google might view your domain with less authority than a business that has invested for a domain for 10 years.

Read this patent. We believe reading this document will help you on your path to understand exactly how Google does what it does.

Try these simple steps to seo target marketing now.

1. use the FREE keyword suggestion tool to research your particular niche
2. once the results for the top 100 keyword searches come back, rather than focus on the obvious top keywords, scan down to the middle and look closer at the “Long Tail” keywords, the less obvious keywords.
3. Now, take the road less traveled, and do a Google search for what we can call the “secondary words”
4. Have a look at who gets top placement for these words.  If they are PR8 sites and have 30,000 backlinks, perhaps you should look for a less popular word.  You need the right balance between targeted keyword phrases and a term that is not completely dominated.
5. One major mistake a lot of websites make is to go after the most obvious keywords; DON’T DO THAT!
6. Look for keyword terms that bring back sites in the top position that you think you could do battle with.  Why enter into an arena with the champions, when there are thousands of targeted words that get traffic with less competition.
7. Now that you have identified the right mix of keyword phrases, use them to create a page. Match your title tag, meta tag and theme of the page on this keyword research.  Create a quality page of content and provide uniqe information.
8. If you have a blog, better yet; use the keyword you just identified as the blog post title
9. Try it, and let us know when it works

Why do you need a Search Engine Optimization Firm? 
The answer is simple.  You need an SEO Game Plan.  Search engines have complex sets of rules and algorithms that help determine which sites are shown at the top of search results.  While Yahoo! , Google and MSN keep their formulas for determining search results a secret, how they crawl the web and choose what to display is  NOT a complete mystery.  

The core elements of determining search results are easily identified.  Understanding these elements, and properly implementing best practices of Search Engine Optimization will help you increase your site rankings.  Good SEO helps create a better user experience, putting the right content in front of the right audience.  Those that perform SEO have a competitive advantage over those that don’t.

Here is a quick look at just a few SEO Best practices.

1. Keyword Research. Are the Keywords you are targeting for (optimizing for) on each page of your site both popular and relevant to searchers?
2. Page Titles. Perhaps the single most important element of on-page SEO, Title tags should be unique on every page and begin with your targeted keywords.
3. Identifying Keywords in your Headlines. The content areas of each page in your site should use H1 Heading tags
4. Content. Assure your content area is keyword rich and of adequate length – 250 words more or less.
5. Text Links within your site. All hyperlink text that point to other internal pages throughout your site should include our optimized keywords
6. 6. Internal Links. Links from your home page should link to your most important secondary pages. Use keyword rich hypertext.
7. Good Housekeeping. Your site should include a privacy policy, as well as a site map with text links. Do you use Yahoo! and Google verified sitemaps? You Should.
8. File Names and Directories Each page of your site should utilize file and directory names that include the targeted keywords you are optimizing for.
9. Linking, Directories and Authority Sites. Is your site Listed in the DMOZ and other useful, relevant authority sites?
10. Content is King. Is your content well written and relevant to the title of your page. The search engines, and more importantly, your audience loves good content. Having great content is the KILLER SEO tactic!