Here's 5 major things I find very helpful if you want to rank well on Google and Yahoo. Not all are bullet-proof, but these are things I find most useful across client landscapes.
- PageRank (PR) alone doesn't work. Hard-coded anchor text with your keyword phrase is more important from a PR 5 than from a non-keyword phrased anchor coming from a PR 7.
- To be optimized for a particular keyword phrase, the word must be present on that particular page. (content or code)
- Each page should have unique titles and descriptions. The first 65 characters matter in the description so try to avoid punctuation (use dashes instead). Titles should include the keyword phrase.
- Don't keyword-stuff pages. 1-2 keywords should suffice per page.
- Use sitemaps.org
