There are just about as many strategies for raising your search engine rankings as there are search engines. Most methods are trendy and come and go.

There are, however, two surefire ways to raise your rankings in the search engines that the search engines actually like, and it will keep you from being banned.

If you are looking for ways to improve your search engine rankings, as well as automate the process, then try this:

1. Linking strategies

You can exchange links with other sites to raise your rankings. The more links that you have pointing to your site, the higher your rankings will be.

If you are trying to get into Google, you really should search for a site that complements yours and contact the webmaster about linking. Google ranks sites it finds on its own higher than if you submit your url directly to it.

The easiest way to set up this strategy is to create a links directory. There is a free script you can use that will make the process much easier. I installed this script on my web site, and it took about 10 minutes. Most of the work was spent in customizing the templates to make your directory look like your site.

You can download a copy of this script here:

http://www.smallbusinesshowto.com/freeware/lma.zip

(Follow the instructions included in the script and please observe the copyright).

To see an example of this script, you can click here: http://www.smallbusinesshowto.com/lma/directory

The key to getting the most from this script is to require a reciprocal link from the sites that submit their links to your directory.

Also, you want to customize your categories based on the theme of your site. You can use this tool to help you find keywords for your site, as well as help you find the right keywords for both your site and your directory: GoodKeywords, http://www.goodkeywords.com.

2. Content

The easiest way to get content for your web site that is keyword rich is to use articles. You can add these two ways that the search engines like:

a. Create an article directory on your site.

You can either add your articles manually, use an article directory script, or a content management system.

If you add your articles manually, there is a great little tool you can use that will code your articles in HTML for you, and then all you have to do is cut and paste the code into a page on your site.

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It's called Text2HTML, and you'll find it here: http://www.cyber-matrix.com/txt2html.html

Ultimate Marketing Center, http://www.ultimatemarketingcenter.com, offers an article directory script that creates search engine friendly pages. This is included in their hosting package, and this is the script I use so that I don't have to code the HTML.

You can see an example of this type of article directory on one of the developer's site here:

http://www.freezinesite.com

The third option is a content management system. I use Post Nuke for my membership and affiliate sites because it has a graphical editor, but there are many different content management systems that you can use to create content rich sites without having to write HTML.

The best place to find content management systems is Source Forge, http://www.sourceforge.net. Source Forge offers thousands of scripts in open source. Open source is code that is developed by volunteers and can be used by anyone. This type of code is used in both the development of software and scripts and allows the application to evolve and be improved.

When choosing your content, stick to formats that are search engine friendly, like HTML and RSS. Javascripts can display nicely on a page, but aren't good for creating search engine friendly pages.

Although many methods for gaining search engine friendly high ranking sites have been developed, ultimately, you should stick with strategies that work.

You can stay up to date by studying the information at these three sites:

http://www.jimworld.com/forums/

http://www.sitepronews.com/

http://www.searchenginewatch.com/

Jinger Jarrett is a former military journalist and newspaper reporter who teaches and consults on article writing. You can get her latest ebook, (it's free), "100+ Best FREE and Paid Resources for Writers, Internet Marketers, and Small Business Owners", at http://www.marketingforwriters.com/freebook.html. (You can join her affiliate program and make money giving it away).

jingerjarrett@smallbusinesshowto.com