Now that we've covered the "dos," here come the "don'ts." Although these questionable tactics have worked well in the past, the search engines absolutely hate them. If they catch you using any of these tricks, they may go so far as to drop you from their listings like a hot potato!

1. Beware irrelevant links!

Yes, it's a good idea to get a lot of different links pointing to your site, but the search engines only like RELEVANT links. If they find sites that have nothing in common with the content on your site linked to your web site, they'll lower your relevancy rating.

2. Beware irrelevant keywords!

Search engines hate finding irrelevant keywords on your site -- especially in your meta tags. If they catch you using keywords that have nothing to do with the actual content of your site, they'll penalize you for it.

3. Don't "keyword stuff" your meta tags!

In the past, people used to repeat their keywords in their meta tags over and over again. This used to get them a high ranking with the search engines -- but not any more! Search engines are on to this trick and will punish you for it by dropping your ranking.

4. Don't create "link farms"!

"Link farms" are the evil cousins of the "information pages" we discussed above.

In the past, some spammers used to build multiple "doorway" sites that existed only to multiply the number of links pointing to their sites. Unlike content-rich information pages,these doorway pages would usually only include a string of keyword terms that would earn them a high ranking with the search engines. The search engines have caught on to this tactic, however, and will drop you from their listings if they find you using it.

5. Avoid "free for all" link pages!

Don't bother placing links to your site on pages where everyone and their dog is invited to put up a link. Such sites have extremely low relevancy ratings and will cost you points with the search engines.

Essential tools and resources to optimize your site and stay n top of the search engine game There are a lot of great tools out there that can help you optimize your web site while ensuring that you stay on the good side of all the search engines. Here are a few of our favorites.

Tools:

Wordtracker: This great online tool helps you select specific keyword phrases that will direct more traffic to your site. Free and paid versions are available.

SitePromoter: This useful software program helps you create individualized submissions to the different search engines.

Optilink: A lot of search engine optimization experts swear by this software. It's a "link reputation analyzer" that helps you determine a site's reputation and why the search engines like it or dislike it. It certainly comes in handy when you're checking out the competition or looking for reputable sites to link to yours!

WebPosition Gold: This is a great piece of search engine placement software that generates Web pages designed to rank high on the major search engines. It also analyzes your existing Web pages, providing suggestions for improvement, and tracks your ranking on different search engines.

Resources:

Search Engine News: Planet Ocean's online resource, "The Unfair Advantage Book on Winning the Search Engine Wars" is updated monthly and provides excellent optimization tips and information on the Search Engine industry.

Search Engine Watch: This free site is another rich source of tips and information on the Search Engine industry. Paid memberships are available for more advanced content.

Search Engine Guide: This free site contains a lot of useful information about the smaller search engines on the Web, and who you should submit your site to in order to get a better ranking with the bigger search engines.

Final thoughts

Recent research by search engine optimization experts suggests that there is a surprising lack of overlap between the results produced by the major search engines. All too often, sites that are ranked high on Google get a much poorer listing with Yahoo! and vice versa.

This could mean that webmasters are focusing their optimization efforts solely on one search engine while neglecting to improve their ranking with the other. They might be using optimization tactics that work for Google on Yahoo!, without being aware that Yahoo! uses different criteria to index a site.

Either way, sites that aren't optimized for both Google and Yahoo! are missing out on a lot of potential visitors.

And don't forget, MSN will soon be throwing its hat into the ring and switching from Yahoo! to its own search engine technology. When that happens, you should be sure to submit your site to MSN as well.

No one really knows what the future holds for the search engine industry, but one thing's for sure: Businesses that don't stay on top of the changes are going to find themselves slipping behind. Don't let that happen to your business!