My SEO Journal: How I Have Achieved & Maintained Top Rankings — Part #1

• Baring It All In Order To Prove This SEO Stuff Works •
• Actual Google Top Rankings Screenshots — The Proof Is In The Pudding! •

I promised that this post would be a on-going conversation, a journal of sorts, about how I am able to achieve high rankings and then maintain those rankings. I want to emphasize that the rankings I am sharing and discussing are ones that bring me lots of targeted visitors. These are NOT top-ten ranking keyword phrases that have zero traffic!

I know what the stumbling blocks are to trying to learn how to optimize your website or blog in order that it can rank highly. (Afterall, I wasn’t always an expert in SEO! I had to start from zero knowledge and move up from there.) I hope that what I share with you will really help you be more successful with your search engine rankings … and that means you’ll have much more targeted visitor traffic.

Alright, let me explain more about the keyword I’ve shown down below in the screen shot– the very competitive and good traffic generating keyword: garden art project.

Please note: today I have a #1 position … #2 has disappeared. Oh well … that’s the joy of dealing with the search engines. I’ve done NOTHING at all to change the webpage or the website. I know that this is just something that happens from time to time. Rankings can come, and rankings can go. But the important thing is that I am still #1

OK, let me give you some insight as to how I have gotten this #1 (and most times #2 also) ranking. “Garden art project” sure seems pretty general, doesn’t it? In certain ways it is, thusly it is harder to rank highly for, much harder than if I had targeted it to be a more specific keyword phrase, such as “floral garden art project”.

But, that keyword is one of the main keywords that describes the overall theme (niche) of the website www.The-Artistic-Garden.com So, I HAD to optimize for the rather general term.

How did I achieve and then maintain a top ranking like this for a long time? The simple fact is because I have properly optimized the Title tag and Description meta tag and the content on that page with the term. I will admit there is a bit of “advanced” SEO happening with the optimization technique I have employed in this situation, but not that advanced that I can’t discuss it with someone who is learning about SEO.

I’ll be talking about all the ins and outs, variables and such that can affect your rankings in my next entries. See you soon!

Entry made on: March 20, 2008 @ 13:07

It is one thing to say that you are an SEO expert or guru, but it is another thing to “put your money where your mouth is” and SHOW the world exactly how well the websites that you have worked on fare in the search engines.

I think that it is pretty obvious that the one thing you rarely see is the “SEO expert” laying it out on the table, showing you PROOF that the methods they talk about in their eBooks or manuals really work.

It is one thing to “talk” how to do SEO, but it is a whole ‘nother thing to make it “work”. Meaning … do these “experts” maintain top rankings for keywords that bring them lots of targeted traffic? Or are they ranking for easily gained top-spots in obscure niches because there really isn’t any competition to speak of? Or … possibly, do they not do very well at all when it comes to successful optimization techniques?

Well, tell you what I have decided to do in an effort to show you I REALLY DO know what I attempt to teach you here on my blog and in my most recent eBook: THE SEO EDGE: GET AHEAD OF YOUR COMPETITION EVERY TIME! If you’d like a free copy right now, please go to: “The SEO Edge”.

I am going to put my money where my mouth is, gang. I have been encouraged by my partner Damian Pang to map out, via my own personal SEO high rankings successes, a teaching tool of sorts to benefit those of you who come here to learn.

It is said a picture is worth a thousand words, to which I whole-heartedly agree. So in keeping with that proverb, I tell you what I am going to do for YOU. Yes, you …

In order that I be the very best SEO teacher that I can, I will be showing you actual screen shots of my Google rankings. Just like this screenshot:

Here is proof of my #1 and #2 Google rankings for the very competitive and high-traffic keyword: garden art project. (Results as of 3-19-08)

Please note there are over 2.4-million SERPs. In addition, the #1 listing is for my home page. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

I will be exposing many more of the actual keywords I have used and optimized on one of my websites, www.The-Artistic-Garden.com, in order that I can teach you better.

EGAD, Claudia! You’re going to let the competition see how you’re beating their pants off?? You’re going to divulge your keyword strategies?? Yup … guess I’ll have to if I am going to do what I said I’m going do! And that’s teach by real examples.

So, in the coming days, weeks, and months I will be teaching you through real-time examples, the art of optimization that can allow you to do the same with your sites. Stay tuned, please keep coming back, I promise I’ve got a lot to share.