Recently my boss asked me to come up with a list of SEO suggestions for better page rankings. I decided to share this list with you. If you have any additional tips feel free to specify them in the comments sections.

• Meta tags, descriptions do NOT work anymore with Google, but it may be useful for older search engines.
• Place keywords in your url schema for example http://www.site.com/services/keyword (Search friendly urls)
• Surround your keywords in h1-h4 and b tags.
• Write unique page titles for your pages.
• Use keywords in your content but don’t go overboard.
• Linking to similar sites (Link building) is very important. Make sure the site you are linking  is a reliable site (Stay away from link directory sites, etc it will only hurt you).
• Generate a sitemap and submit it to Google webmaster.
• Utilize the image tag “alt” attrib to place additional keywords.
• Get the word out with twitter, facebook, etc.
• Utilize social networks sharing widgets to help spread the word.
• Replace your default 404 pages with a link to other pages on your site or redirect to sitemap.
• Utilize PubSubHubbub for your blogs. If you use the wordpress platform there is a plugin.
• Do not use trickery to get a better ranking (Black hatting). It will get your domain flagged and you will need to get a new domain!
• Use Google keywords tool to scope out your competition.

It is also important to understand that after making all these changes you may not be happy with your results. It’s not an exact science and search engine providers constantly update their algorithm.