Updated 23/10/09

Welcome to the step by step process for increasing page rank for google search. Pagerank or SERPS, which is the proper term, is important because we all want to get our articles, blogs and websites onto google's first results page. If you've started thinking about search engine optimization (seo) and how to optimize your website or article then you are in the right place.

We know that a high rank will bring us lots of internet traffic, more readers, more sales and more clicks. This in turn enables us to become the successful internet entrepreneurs and publishers we want to be.

Since most of us think in terms of page rank rather than SERP's (Search Engine Results Position) for how high we are in google's search pages, I will be mainly using the term pagerank throughout this article. Read here for further information on serps and pagerank.

Pen & Paper Needed!

The first thing I would suggest before we even start is to grab yourself some paper and a pen and write the following headings on the left of your page. (It will make sense in a moment.)

1. Optimized Key Phrases

2. Page URL

3. Page Title

4. Page Description/Summary (also called Meta Description)

5. First Paragraph

6. Other Position in Text

7. Last Paragraph

8. Tags (also called Meta Tags or Meta Keywords)

9. Page Length (Content)

Getting your hub or web page onto google's first page is not an exact science because no one knows the exact formula google uses to assess pages, but if you follow these steps you will improve the likelihood of increasing page rank for google search. These are the steps that professional SEO experts will use and charge you a fortune for. There's no need to be paying someone else hundreds of dollars to do this for you because it's something you can learn to do yourself. You can quickly become your own SEO expert with a little practice. If you do need help then I would recommend the software from Axandra - the link's at the top.

Whether you are looking to optimize a page you have already written or one you are just starting on, you can maximize your chances of getting a first page google rank easily by putting in a little time and work.

(If it's a page that is yet to be written, the first thing to do before anything else, is think about what your page will be about and do your keyword research.)

Your first task is to write down what keywords or key phrases you are aiming to rank well for on google's search page. 1-3 key phrases is plenty and if you're new to this my suggestion would be to choose just one keyphrase. If you want to check your current google position for each of your key phrases use this tool:-

Google Position Tool - SERPS Checker

Now we're going to check how good your key phrases are by using:-

Google's Keyword Generator Tool

(Right click the link to open in a new window or tab.)

A good key phrase is one that has plenty of searches per month in your chosen location and has little competition.

1. Just above where is says "How would you like to generate keyword ideas?" it tells you what location google is going to check. It is always default UK for me because that's where I live. I change this to "all countries and territories" or "United States" depending on where I want to target my search results for.

2. Once you've done that, type in your first key phrase and then click "get keyword ideas".

3. When the results are returned you will be able to see how often your keyphrase is searched for both locally (the country you live in or the country you have chosen above) and globally.

4. If it returns an answer of "not enough data" that means that no one is searching for that term and therefore this keyphrase is useless to you. Use the keyword tool to search for better keyphrases.

5. If the keyphrase is getting a good number of searches (over a 1,000) you now need to look at how much advertiser competition there is for that keyphrase. This is shown by how full the blue rectangle is.

6. If your phrase is something like "make money online" notice that there are 1,000,000 searches for this globally, but the rectangle is full. This means that the chances of you ranking well for that term are virtually nil because so many other webpages are also trying to rank for that. Therefore, "make money online" is not a good keyphrase to choose.

7. Do the same with each of your keyphrases. If they aren't very good then you will need to do some work on searching for some better ones. Use the keyword tool and try different combinations of words that relate highly to your page content. Think about what someone might type in to get the information that you are offering. Scroll through google's suggestions and see if there are any good ideas there.

8. If you have already done your keyword research and have identified some keyphrases that get a good amount of searches and also do not have much competition then it's time to optimize your page.

I'm going to use an example of one of my hubs to guide you through the process.

Open the page you want to optimize either in a new browser window or your webpage creation software.

*** Now write down the relevant information for each of the headings I asked you to put on your piece of paper at the beginning of this article.***

After completing the process above for my page and finding some good keywords (ones that have a high number of searches and low competition) I then follow this formula for increasing pagerank for google search.

Here is an example of one of my hubs that is on Page 1 of Google for the keyphrases "how to describe yourself" (number 3) and "effective qualities" (number 3).

1. Optimized Key Phrases =

• how to describe yourself (5,400 searches per month)
• positive qualities (2,900 searches per month)
• effective qualities (12,100 searches per month)

2. Page URL =

http://hubpages.com/hub/how-to-describe-yourself

*Note the main keyphrase in the URL*

3. Page Title =

How to Describe Yourself - Your Positive & Effective Qualities

*Note the 3 keyphrases in the title*

4. Page Description/Summary =

Knowing how to describe yourself and others accurately is a skill. Identify your positive and effective qualities for job interviews, job applications, online profiles, dating sites...

*Note the key phrases in the page description*

5. First Paragraph =

Why being able to describe yourself & others is helpful. Learning how to describe yourself and others accurately is something we usually have to make an effort to do. This seems to be especially true in most western cultures where being honest about our skills, qualities and attributes can be confused with being arrogant, "blowing your own trumpet" and being excessively self indulgent

*Note the keyphrase in the sub heading and first line of text*

6. Other Positions in Text =

Make sure that your exact keyphrases are in the body of the text a couple of times. In the "How to Describe Yourself" article I have used that keyphrase 3 times in the text body.

In this article you will see the phrase, "page rank for google search" a few times throughout the text. Do not mess with the keyphrase! Page ranking for google search is not the same. This phrase can be used, but it if is not your keyphrase then think about how to incorporate the actual keyphrase in the text.

7. Last Paragraph =

Your keyphrases also need to be in the last paragraph. This is simple enough to do and helps create a good conclusion to the article or page.

"Please let me know If you thought of any other positive descriptive words by leaving a comment below and remember to bookmark this list in case you need to come back to it. You never know when you will be required to know how to describe yourself and let people know about your positive and effective qualities."

*Note the keyphrases in the last paragraph*

8. Tags =

how to describe yourself, positive qualities, effective qualities, positive traits, positive attributes, characteristics of good leader, what qualities, person qualities, good qualities of a leader, qualities of good leader, positive quality, qualities manager, positive team, qualities leader, identify positive qualities, employee qualities, characteristics qualities, positive characteristic, describe a person, description of self, positive training, positive leadership, personal qualities

*Note the keyphrases have been added as tags*

*Don't go mad with tags 10 - 25 is plenty*

*Ideally each tag should be in the text of your article*

9. Page Length =

950 words. (In a moment we are going to talk about the importance of content.)

If you find that your web page or hub does not have your key phrase in all the areas that I've listed it's simple enough to edit them. The only area you may not be able to change is your URL, especially if it's a blog or hub page that you are editing.

Once you've completed your SEO optimization for the page and published it, it's now time to check your page using this handy website tool. It will tell you how relevant your title and description are to your page. Ideally you want these to be as close to 100% as you can get them. It will also tell you if your title or description are too long. If they are re-edit your page, change these elements and re-check it.

(Don't worry about the area where it says how many URL's are on your page. All hubpages have over 100 urls on each page and this is not a problem even though it is highlighted as such. Personally I also don't worry about keyword density. There's a lot written about the optimum amount of times your keywords should be in the text of your page, but as long as your content is relevant and you have not stuffed your page with keywords everything will be fine.)

Read here for more of the best (and free) SEO tools.

We haven't really talked about the content of your page yet, but the quality and relevance of your content is of paramount importance for increasing page rank for google search. Google hates web masters and content writers that try to deceive both the search engines and the searchers. It almost goes without saying that your page content needs to be good - people need to find what they are looking for. If they don't they will click away rapidly and your page will not do well in the page ranking game - no matter how well optimized it is.

If you've optimized for "flowers that bloom in Spring" then that is what your page must be about.

For best results with google (and the other major search engines) I suggest a page length of between 800 - 1500 words with content that is well written and highly relevant to your keywords and key phrases.

What I've found is this: The more competition you have with other web pages for a particular search term the more linking you need to do to get on the first page.

If you've managed to find relevant keyphrases that have little competition then you will not need to spend time creating backlinks to your webpage. I have not done a thing to get links for the optimized page I've shown you - I haven't even bothered to twitter it. (That doesn't mean you shouldn't if you want to!)

If you do have some competition then it is worth putting some time and effort into getting backlinks.

The most popular ways to get backlinks are:

• content sharing websites
• article writing
• social networking sites
• directory submissions
• social book marking sites
• blogs
• forums

I'm not going to tackle the question of how to get good backlinks in this article because it's too big a topic. You might want to have a look at my hub, "Techniques to Promote your Articles Effectively" which focuses on content sharing websites or check out the links to articles on the right for more info.

Once you have optimized your page it will take up to a month to see any changes in your google position. It all depends on how soon the google bot crawls your page from the time you have created or re-edited it so be patient.

I hope you find this guide useful and easy to use. If there is anything you feel I have not covered or you need any element of this article clarifying please leave a comment and I will do my best to respond quickly. In the meantime, I wish you the best of luck with increasing your page rank for google search!

If you've found this article helpful remember to bookmark it so that you can come back later.

Do you have something to write about? Why not JOIN HUBPAGES today, make yourself an extra income and promote your websites?