The top 5 factors for successful web sites in 2007

Success factor #1: Accessibility

Search engines must be able to access your web pages. If search engines cannot parse your web pages then they will ignore your site and you won't get good rankings.
Make sure that your web server doesn't return an error code when search engine spiders visit your web pages. If your server returns an error code, search engines won't index your site.
The correct code should be "200 OK". You can check the status code that your web server returns to search engines with IBP's search engine spider simulator (free).
In addition, make sure that the HTML code of your web pages doesn't contain errors that prevent search engines from indexing your site.
The content of your web pages must make sense to search engines. Don't use images or Flash to present the main content of your web pages. Use IBP's Top 10 Web Page Optimizer to find out if your web pages present the right information to search engines.

Success factor #2: Site and information architecture

Your web site should have a good site architecture to make sure that it is not just a collection of random web pages. The pages of your web site should be related and they should show search engines that your web site is relevant to a special topic.
This is very important because most major search engines seem to use latent semantic indexing in their ranking algorithms.
Your site should also have a good information architecture so that search engines and web surfers know where they are within your site on any page of your site.

Success factor #3: The right keywords

Choosing the right keywords is one of the most important steps that determines whether your SEO campaign is a success or not.
It's best to focus on 2 or 3 word keywords for search engine optimization. One word keywords are less likely to convert to a sale and they are also much more competitive.
Use IBP's powerful keyword tools to find the keywords that will work best with your site.

Success factor #4: Content

Web sites that only offer articles and affiliate links that can be found on dozens of other web sites will have a hard time to get good search engine rankings.
Try to create unique and trustworthy content that separates your web site from the others.
Write about things you know. If you're an expert in a special field, write as much as possible about that field to make sure that your web site becomes the best resource for that topic.

Success factor #5: Inbound links

Without good inbound links, it is impossible to get high rankings on major search engines. You should get as many links as possible from related web sites. The more targeted the link, the more it will help your search engine rankings.