Unique and compelling content are vital components to any successful site, but they're rendered obsolete if the site doesn't follow basic guidelines established by the Google Webmaster Guidelines.

What are webmaster guidelines? They're standards for keeping spam-filled and illegitimate sites out of the top search engine results. For example, a site's homepage has only 250 words and dozens of links, Google, Yahoo and Bing will flag the site as a possible spam site. What are the Google webmaster guidelines?

Google's webmaster guidelines include: Make a website with a clear hierarchy (homepage) and text links. Every page should be reachable with at least one static text link. Offer a sitemap with links that point to the important parts of your site. If you have over 100 links, categorize your links into separate pages.

Navigation on your interface should be as simple as possible for the user, otherwise, they'll leave your site in frustration. A simplified user interface is one of the primary factors for WordPress' popularity among the top content management systems.

Text links should utilize unique keywords that apply to the respective page they're linking to. A clear navigational structure helps Google's search bot to scan your site. You can create a sitemap on WordPress, which tells Google's scanner where to read.

Always remember to fill your pages with information-rich content, including articles on popular and related topics to your niche audience. For example, if your site is about sports apparel, create a story about LeBron James' newest shoe.

An easy rule to follow for Google's guidelines is to think like the searcher. In other words, when you're writing your page titles and highlighting keywords within the main body of text in your page, link to words and phrases that are likely to be searched. This may lead you to restructure some of your sentences, but it's worth the effort to improve your rankings for target keywords.

Remember, there are tens of millions of domains, and to distinguish yourself from the pack, you have to put in your due diligence. Remember, just because you create a sitemap, it doesn't guarantee all of your site will be indexed. Google doesn't guarantee to crawl everything in the sitemap file. Google's guidelines include inbound links, conversion rates, site traffic and reliable links that connect your site's pages in an organized and logistical flow.

Other guidelines to remember: Use a text browser such as Lynx to examine your site, because most search engine spiders see your site much as Lynx would. Allow search bots to crawl your sites without session IDs or arguments that track their path through the site and sure your web server supports the If-Modified-Since HTTP header. This feature allows your web server to tell Google whether your content has changed since we last crawled your site.

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Werner Wichmann provides Search Engine Optimization Services and gets websites to the top of the search results with these services, to see more go to http://www.elevatemarketing.co.za.