Most people feel that improving page rank can be a very difficult feat to accomplish. In fact, it is not difficult at all. Understanding the game you’re in and equipping yourself with the right knowledge and tools can help you stay ahead of your competition.

Ranking high in search engines is all about knowing the guidelines, proper placement of a few important factors on your page, and having the right websites that recognize and support your page. Some may tell you that strong keywords are the source of high search engine rankings. Although this is true, it is not the only factor in ranking high in search engines.

Great keywords and keyword placement may get you to the first page of Google or any other search engine, but they won’t keep you there for long. Search engines love other websites that endorse your valuable content just as much as they love your valuable content.

For example, let’s say you wrote a compelling article about the effects of smoking. Google loves it and they rank you on the first page, great! The only problem Google is the only entity that thinks it’s a great article. Your page starts to slide down the ranks because there is no one to vouch for your valuable content.

Now let’s take the same article that Google ranked on the first page. Not only does Google rate your content, CNN put it on their website, Yahoo has it in their health section, WebMD featured your article, etc. Now, you have other websites vouching for you along with Google. This assures Google that it made the right decision by ranking you higher than everyone else. This process is called backlinks.

Strong keywords and valuable content can get you to the first page of Google, but building backlinks will keep you there for a LONG time. In fact, Google uses it to determine the pagerank of a web page. The popularity of your page is just as important as the value of your content. Also, the more popular your page is, the more traffic you will develop.

Building the right backlinks is similar to the effect of commercials and billboards in the offline world. A Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl is a backlink. A McDonalds in a blockbuster movie scene is a backlink. A Home Depot sticker on a NASCAR is a backlink. Creating a website or an article is just the beginning, you also have to promote it.

Building backlinks is nothing more than self-promotion. Create at least 10 articles that provide valuable information about your website content. Search the top 50 article directories on the web. Post the articles you’ve written to 10 of those article directories (you can post all 50 if you want). Make sure EVERY article has a hyperlink or anchor text to your website. 10 articles in 10 different directories equals 100 backlinks. You can use the same method to promote an item.