While we may not know EXACTLY how each search engine works, we do know of strategies - many of which are recommended by the search engines themselves - that can be used to increase your odds of being discovered.

Remember that we have the same goal as the search engines - we want to attract the right user to our website. It's better to have 1,000 visitors where 10% percent become customers, than 1,000,000 visitors where only one or two become customers.

Recommended SEO strategies are:

1. Include relevant keywords in your URL, page titles, links pointing to your pages (inbound, outbound and internal links), directories, file names, image alternate text, and in the visible text.

2. Create a sitemap for your website.

3. Actively try to increase the number of legitimate, value-added inbound links to your site.

4. Work to improve keyword emphasis, frequency, proximity and sequence.

5. Customize domains and/or build micro-sites that focus on specific products, services or marketing regions.

6. Use a variety of search engine friendly content - HTML, whitepapers, weblogs, newsletters, forums, podcasts, etc.

Search engine optimization isn't a "black box". It requires careful planning and systematic fine tuning of content. While this list may seem simplistic, putting these strategies into practice is a time consuming, challenging process.