As a teenager years ago I started learning to play the guitar. One of the hot bands at that time was Deep Purple. I recall reading an interview in Guitar Player magazine with their lead guitarist, Ritchie Blackmore, where he advised young players to copy the "licks" they heard other guitarists use. He said that was one technique he had used to become competent on the instrument.

In learning how to optimize your website for the search engines, I suggest you use a similar strategy. Here's how it works: Type a keyword combination apropos to your business into the major search engines, and see who's websites return the highest ranking.

Then, take a look at their sourcecode. Study the keyword and description metatags. What other keywords and keyphrases are they using? Also, study what types of keywords are used in the "alt" tags, as well as how those same words are used in the body copy.

In order for a site to return a top 10 on any major search engine, they must be doing something right. Take Blackmore's advice and learn from them. It's just one way to help your site find it's way up the rankings too.

I have many more tips where that came from. Contact me with your small business marketing needs.