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The results from the latest Nielsen/NetRatings survey (January 2005) are in and Google is still king of the hill. In fact, it would be appropriate to say that Google dominates search. More than twice as many searches are done using Google than their nearest competitor, Yahoo. And Yahoo beats their nearest competitor, MSN, by nearly double the number of searches.

Search Engine	Searches (in thousands)	Percent of Total Searches
Google	1,923,153	47%
Yahoo	868,174	21%
MSN	523,188	13%
Total	4,085,880	81%

Also measured were the number of searchers who also visited at least one other top search engine. Google had the least number of searchers using another major search engine.

Search Engine	Percent Using Another Major Search Engine
Google	58%
Yahoo	70%
MSN	71%

These results point out the importance of getting good rankings on Google. More searchers use Google than the next two competitors combined and those users are less likely to do searches on the other major search engines.

So how do you get good rankings on Google?

Of course, web site optimization is necessary for all search engines. However, an extremely important factor in Google rankings is the number and quality of inbound links to your web site. This is often the most neglected aspect by webmasters. Also see Tips to DIY Search Engine Optimization.

Reciprocal linking

One way to gain linking is through reciprocal linking or exchanging links. Find other web sites that would be of interest to your visitors. See the article 7 Linking Strategies for more information on how to do this.

If you have trouble finding willing linking partners, take a critical look at your own site. Do you have enough valuable content that other sites would like to link to? If not, you need to build the content on your site. When you become a valuable content site, you will find other sites linking to you without being asked.

Deep linking

Another method of gaining valuable inbound links is through "deep linking." This is where links are placed on content pages rather than a links page. Links must be matched between your site and the other site by choosing the same subject of the content. This takes more effort but webmaster are more inclined to exchange these types of links because Google rates them more highly. See Tips for Deep Linking for more information.

Article marketing

If you want to establish a large amount of links in a short period of time, article marketing is just the ticket for you. The technique involves writing short articles about your area of expertise and submitting them to sites that provide content for webmasters. These articles only need to be 250-300 words in length. Be sure to use keywords both in the title and subheads of the article. At the end, include your name and a link to your web site. See Article Marketing Builds Links and Your Brand for how to create a dozen links with only three or four hours work.