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It's hard to earn a high rating on search engines. Tips for placing higher can make the difference between being in the top 20 for your keyword or somewhere on results page 20. If you want higher rankings, try the following search engine tips.

Load your page with keywords. Keywords are the terms your customers are likely to use when searching. If you sell antique model cars and you just have pictures on your home page, you're not likely to get a single hit. Number one in search engine tips: include written content on your home page that uses the term "antique model cars" often, and your ranking will go up, often way up.

Pick the right keyword. Search engine tips from the search engines don't always tell you this, but the keyword or combination of keywords your customer is going to search for is critical. Be specific. You're not likely to place high if you choose "flowers," but if you use "Boston wedding flowers," you will. Make sure that your keyword combination is something your customers are likely to search for.

Name your pictures and page. This isn't often mentioned in search engine tips, but when you put together a web page, images have a spot for an alternate name. The search engines look for these alternate names, and if you have lots of images labeled "antique model car" and then something else, like a model number or other description, your rating will go up. Your page also has a name that shows up in the blue bar above all your menu bars in the browser; this name should include your keyword phrase as well.

All search engines work a little differently. Here are some search engine tips for specific search engines.

Yahoo! is directory-based; that means that part of its database is put together by humans. If you have a nonprofit or primarily informational site, you can submit it to their directory section for free, and this will enhance your placement in a search. (If you have a for-profit or merchant site, they will charge you a fee for this.)

Google and MSN both use crawler-based technology; that means that once they know a web page is there, they send out "spiders" to examine its content and determine how it should rank in keyword searches. The best search engine tips for crawlers are to make sure your keywords are in place, and to update your page frequently.

Crawlers rate unchanging pages lower than pages that update at least monthly. Be sure to submit your site to crawler-based search engines.