When used properly in combination with other basic search engine tactics, these tips can help to dramatically improve your placement with the search engines and increase the traffic to your web site.

1. USE KEYWORD FILE NAMES: By naming your html file relevant to your keywords, you can gain a slight advantage. This is a relatively minor aid so don't go overboard with it.

2. AVOID USING ROBOTIC SUBMISSIONS TO THE TOP SEARCH ENGINES: When submitting your web page to one of the top 8 search engines, try to post your page manually rather than using any automated software or sites that post for you to get into the prime search engines. Many people believe that over 70% of your hits will come from Google and Yahoo! It's probably worth spending a considerable amount of time trying to get a good ranking from theses search engines. (Actually Yahoo is more like a directory than a search engine and requires that you read their help pages about their listing method)

3. BE SURE TO USE YOUR KEYWORDS IN YOUR PAGE TITLE: Many search engines will look to see what words you have used in your page title tag. It is VERY important that you include the keywords you want to be found under in this title tag.

4. GET YOUR PAGE LINKED FROM OTHER SITES: Some search engines will increase your relevancy if your site is linked to from other sites. Try to establish as many links as possible from other locations before you submit your web page for placement.

5. AVOID USING JAVA AND FRAMES IN YOUR PAGES: Search engine robots have a difficult time with pages containing Java and frames (not the Java Script tip below which is ignored by search engines). In order to establish a high relevancy and therefore a high rank do not use these methods in the pages you submit to the search engines.

6. THE FIRST 250 WORDS OF TEXT: Search engine robots scrutinize the first 250 word of text in your page for relevancy and keyword count. You must use your keywords in the appropriate proportions in this part of your page. Some say a 10% - 40% keyword count in this section of text is ideal. ALWAYS start this text with the page title you used in the title tag. Avoid keyword repetition (i.e. repeating keywords one after the other).

7. DO NOT USE THE META REFRESH COMMAND: This command is used to automatically transfer a page to another without requiring reader input.

8. DO NOT USE TEXT THAT IS THE SAME COLOR AS THE BACKGROUND: Search engines look for text that is the same color as the background which is being used to increase the keyword count without the reader seeing the text. This has become a definite no no and you may be penalized for such tactics.

9. USE LINKS CONTAINING KEYWORDS: One way to increase a keyword count is to use a series of working or non-working links containing a description and link that incorporate your keywords. This also has the advantage of providing links to other web sites from your page which the search engines also look for.

10. USE THE IMAGE ALT TAG TO INCREASE YOUR KEYWORD COUNT: Every image allows you to include a text description of that image in the alt tag. Use these tags to incorporate keywords or phrases to increase your keyword count. Search engines do consider alt tags in their relevancy rankings.

11. USE KEYWORDS IN PLURAL: Try to use your keywords in the plural form. Such as, CLOCKS instead of CLOCK. A user search on the keyword CLOCK will find both CLOCK and CLOCKS but a user search for CLOCKS will usually not turn up pages using the keyword CLOCK in singular form.

12. KEEP META TAG DESCRIPTION TO 25 WORDS OR LESS: Most search engines will truncate your description if it is too long deleting possible key points you are trying to convey. Keep your meta description to 25 words or less to avoid having posted an incomplete message to readers.

13. KEEP META TAG KEYWORD LISTS UNDER 1000 CHARACTERS: Keep your meta tag keyword list to under 1000 characters. Anything more and you may have your relevancy rank penalized by search engines. Additionally, do not repeat any one keyword in the keyword meta tag more than three times.

I truly hope you use these strategies soon and realize far more success than you have! Get started right away and watch the difference in your rankings.