SEO experts are constantly telling us about the importance of good quality content and good quality back links from web sites with relevant content. They also tell us that reciprocal links and page rank are of decreasing importance. They then instruct us as to how to go about getting good links by personally contacting other web sites and proposing a reciprocal link! Confusing! As is much of the advice given to prospective site designers.

Personal experience with our own web site has shown that the following is correct and works;

- Content is the key. Lots of it, with constant up dates to it, and it should be well written and informative not just a sales pitch.

- The more pages you can create the better. Upwards of 100 pages will highlight your site as an important one. Sites with only a few pages rarely appear on the first page of search engine results.

- As the site ages its importance will increase. Those who got in early generally outperform the later sites. Google also have an ageing process for links. As these links approach six months old they become of more importance.

- Reciprocal links once gone through the ageing process are still being counted, even with Google's updated algorithm.

- Article writing and publishing will produce huge numbers of backlinks. You should be looking to produce upwards of 30 articles and aim for around 250.

- Attaching a weblog to your site which is updated daily will increase the rate at which the search engines visit your site and at the same time adds valuable content and links.

- Page Rank has still some importance in determining your position in the rankings because it is based on the links and the content of your site. However the page rank as given by the Google Toolbar is not necessarily accurate. A more accurate page rank can be gauged from using the detail supplied by the Google Sitemap statistics. Consequently generate a sitemap and submit it to Google.

The most important piece of advice is to design your site for the visitor and not the search engines. Have as much information within the content as possible and keep the graphics to a minimum.

About the Author

David Andrew Smith is the owner of http://www.wesparkle.co.uk a cleaning services company which operates throughout the UK.

So, I just turned on the notify module here on my site. I noticed that *I* just got a massive email sent to me from the site with lots of posts in it. Err..I may have spammed everyone with an account on this site.

If you *don't* want to get email every week with any of my new posts, you can login, and go to the my account link, then hit the "my notify settings" link.

So, if you got a big long email from this site...sorry for the spam!

Co-host Brad Forsythe interviews Darrel Rhea, Principal/CEO of Cheskin.  Darrel Rhea is a Principal and CEO of Cheskin and a passionate spokesperson for the design research industry. He has been a pioneer in incorporating market research into the brand design and product development process. Rhea is considered one of America’s leading strategic design consultants, having extensive experience managing industrial design, product development and innovation, graphic design, and brand identity creation. His qualifications for this commitment include a degree in design and psychology, many successful years in graphic design and entrepreneurial endeavors, and over 20 years with Cheskin. Rhea is a producer and leader of professional development seminars for senior executives in marketing management, market research, and corporate design management at leading corporations including Pepsi, Kraft USA, General Foods, General Mills, Clorox, 3M, Andersen Windows, Procter & Gamble, Pillsbury, Frito-Lay, AT&T, Motorola, HP and many others. He lectures regularly with industry organizations such as the American Marketing Association, the Design Management Institute, the Industrial Design Society of America, the American Institute of Architects and the Art Center College of Design.

For entertaining advice join hosts, Ray Schilens and Brad Forsythe, for a lively and informative discussion.