With Google currently dominating the search engine market with more than 85 percent of the market share, having a clear SEO strategy has never been more important. With some relatively quick adjustments, your website can feature higher in the critical search results pages of Google, giving your business a better chance of reaching its target audience.

1. Including a sitemap on your website should improve your Google ranking and will make your website user-friendly. Whenever possible, try to include sitemaps on every page of your website. Breadcrumb trails are also good for SEO purposes. They will improve your website for visitors and the Google spiders.

2. Google prefers well-structured websites, with clear navigation and relevant links. Use text for links and avoid using Javascript or Flash. If every page of your website can be reached from a text link, Google has a much easier time quantifying your site’s content and relevance. Some websites still have links such as “Click here,” which tells Google nothing. Similarly, avoid using images for navigation buttons.

3. Useful, relevant content is even more necessary today, with so many websites trying to fool Google with dubious SEO tactics. Visitors to your website will also appreciate natural-sounding language and appropriate content. If people enjoy your content, they are more likely to share it with others, ensuring your content and links find new homes throughout the internet, consequently improving your Google ranking.

4. Try to use a keyword density of no more than four percent per web page. To find effective keywords, try Google’s Keyword Tool. Headings with relevant keywords still influence your ranking with Google, as they help Google define your website’s content. Use them wisely, and don’t forget to include these words at the beginning of the first two paragraphs of each section of text.

5. Broken links are bad for SEO, as they prevent the Googlebot from successfully crawling all of your website’s pages. Try using the tool from Xenu to check for broken links, and also try visiting your website from a variety of different browsers, such as Internet Explorer and Firefox. There are also several tools online for checking the speed of your website, including a tool directly from Google. Because faster websites improve the quality of the internet, they tend to rank higher with Google.

6. Try to limit the number of images per web page, and check the size of each image. As a guide, try to use no more than 10 images per page, and restrict each image size to no more than 30KB. The ALT attribute (the alternative text description for images) can also enhance your SEO strategy, so use them whenever you can to improve your keyword density count and improve your website for visitors and Google.

7. To maximize the amount of quality inbound links to your website (therefore improving your rankings with Google), expand your presence on the web. Create profiles on the major social networking websites, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Provide links to these pages on your website. Also search different forums that are relevant to your business, add valuable comments, and include links to your website.

8. Google spiders also crawl RSS feeds of your content, so creating an RSS feed for your original website content is a great way to boost your SEO power. Remember to include keywords and phrases relevant to your website.

9. Most businesses know that fresh, original articles are an important part of SEO and that Google likes original and relevant content. But remember to submit your content to article directories, with links back to your website. You can also post links to your article on the social media websites.

10. Create a blog on your website, or create a separate blog with added links to your website. This is another way to feature up-to-date material for the Google spiders. Update your blog a few times per week for SEO purposes. And use plug-ins like “Share This” so that your audience can spread your content throughout the internet.

With so much competition online, improving the SEO power of your website is crucial to attracting new prospects and retaining present customers. Implementing just some of these suggestions should improve your online visibility, ensuring your business has a fighting chance in this competitive internet market.