When it comes to Search Engine Optimisation there is nothing to say you can’t beat the big hitters in your industry. Perhaps this is the only time you will beat them but that’s the beauty of SEO, all that’s needed is a good SEO campaign and linking strategy.

There is undeniably always some sites that are pretty much unbeatable i.e. Wikipedia but this is one site on a page of 10. The Google algorithms are known for their fondness of authority, which is something you will have to gain no matter what the cost.

Google judges a sites authority on several key factors; inbound links, Onpage content, page title and h1’s.

Inbound links are obviously links around the World Wide Web that directly link to your site. A good way to see how popular (or unpopular) your site is is by simply typing in any of the search engines the following URL:
“Link:http://www.yoursitesname.com”
This generates a list of sites which contain your URL in a hyperlink on their page, or to get a quick idea just have a look at the top of the page for the number of pages, maybe look at a competitors sites to give you an idea of how many links they have and therefore judge a linking campaign on that figure.

To get links from high PR sites is possibly the most costly part of SEO management. I would suggest going to paid directories such as the Yahoo Directory and also DMOZ. Not only will appearing on these pass good PageRank it will also give your site great authority, definitely worth the money.

Content is critical to any site, get your keywords and site subject in any text on the page, get the ratio right and the Search Engine spiders will view your site favourably.

Simple Onpage things like your meta structure, alt tags, H1s and page title are also incredibly vital, it takes 5 minutes for you or a web developer to change and all you need is a few keywords or your site subject in the tags. Make it obvious what your site is about and the traffic will come.

Gaining authority is by no means easy, it’s a slow process that will take longer the more competitive your industry is. It can also cost substantial amounts, but with perseverance it will work for any site. It really is the culmination of a lot of small things joining together to create a monster!

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