Rising up the Google rankings might be the single largest goal that every business owner and webmaster has for their sites or blogs. It can hold the key to success for you in the online world, and I know as well as anybody how much of a difference it can make in terms of your bottom line, your presence in the industry and niche, and much more. Take a look at this quick guide to get started improving your own rankings in Google.

First, it’s important to understand why rising up the Google rankings is so important. Google is by far the most popular search engine in the world, and depending on which surveys and statistics you want to believe, they have between 65% and 80% of the market locked up. So in order to reach that massive amount of people, you have to be able to be found and be found highly in Google.

Rising up as high as possible is also extremely important, because if you aren’t found highly, you won’t be found at all. Few users ever get past the first three pages of results, and about 90% of users won’t make it past the first page. Not only that, but of that 90% who stay on the first page, about two thirds visit the very first listing. Obviously, there is a great deal of importance in getting found as highly as possible.

So how do you go about moving up the rankings for yourself in order to take advantage of some of those great statistics listed above? The first thing you want to do is complete some basic keyword research to help give you an idea of what words and phrases to target. You can even use free tools provided by Google such as the Google Adwords tool to help look up keywords surrounding your product, industry or niche, and how popular they are.

Once you know which keywords to target, you have to go about building your web pages around them. These keywords should be found not only in your own content, but also on the title pages, the page URL addresses, the internal links leading from one page to another, the META tags for the page and more. Basically, without overstuffing your pages or performing black hat SEO, you should include the keywords just about everywhere on your page.

But just as importantly, and maybe more, will be link building around the web. This is important for rising in the Google rankings because every incoming link that you add is like another website voting for you in the ranking. That means your reputation and credibility will rise. Plus, if you can get those links to include your targeted keywords and phrases, then you’ll also rank higher for your specific terms, providing even more value.

There are many other specific steps and tactics that you can take in order to rise through the Google rankings, but these basic and essential ones should get you started in the right direction. Perform your research, include the keywords on your page, and build links to boost your reputation. If you can do all of that consistently, you’ll rise up and begin seeing huge results in Google.