If you have surfed the web then you have most likely used a search engine. Search engines are a great way to find what you are looking for in an easy manner. 85 to 90% of people online use search engines to find information for which they are looking. When you do a search on a search engine you get many pages of links, but most people only look at the first three pages. This is why it is very important to get your website at the top of the search engines list.

The first step in getting your website at the top of a search engines list is to understand how they rank websites. The criteria for ranking websites vary between search engines and have changed in many ways over the years. There are two basics rules, though, that most search engines follow.

1. Content. They want good content, meaning something a person would want to look at or read. It should be well written and put together. This also includes links to other sites.

2. Optimization. Making good use of META tags is important. Using the title and description META tags is a must. Be sure to use keywords, but keep it readable and content driven. An example of this is linking all your pages together, like in an index on each.

The best way to see what a search engine wants is to look at some their top ranked websites. See how they have used content and optimization to get to the top of the list. Use these websites as a loose guideline on how to set up your website.

On the other hand of things there are some things that search engines do not like. These things should be avoided because not only will it hurt your ranking, but could get you banned from the search engine.

1. Do not use keywords unnaturally. This means loading pages down with keywords or throwing them into content in hard to read ways.

2. Do not use hidden messages. Hidden means that the text is written in the same color as the background. This makes it unreadable to the naked eye, but can still be picked up by the search engines.

3. Do not submit multiple addresses for the same site. Simply submit your main page and leave it at that.

4. Do not use gateway pages. Search engines are starting to look down on these. Some people use them as a hidden-type of optimization where they submit a gateway page to the search engine that has been filled with keywords, but when the user clicks on the link to the site they are redirected to the "real" home page. This practice is called cloaking.

It is best to avoid anything devious when designing your web page.

So what can you do to get your website to the top of a search engine ranking? Monitor your site often and make sure it doesn't slip down. This may require doing occasional maintenance to make sure your site stays in its rank. Links are now becoming the best and easiest way to get your site to the top rankings. Use links that are to sites that are related to your site. Try to get links to top rated sites. Avoid links to sites that contain questionable material or rank very low. Take advantage of the META tags. Work on good content and make your site something someone would want to visit. It will take some work and maintenance, but driving traffic to your site is highly based upon where you rank on the search engines.