The illusive top ranking is without a doubt the internet marketer's dilemma. While there are boatloads of tips and tactics to tickle the almighty Google's fancy, the new barometer of integrity in attaining those vaunted peaks lies in the simplicity of quality and a touch of techno savvy. Research your topic, create a pleasurable experience for the audience, and spice it up with the proper accoutrements. Here are my five Oscar winners for top tips for SEO.

Find Profitable Keywords

You cannot begin your ascent to the peak without taking the time to research and find profitable keywords; KW's that will get you rankings, bring you searches and eventually garner profits. An article without a great KW is like moving a canoe without a paddle. I use Jaaxy keyword search software, and spend as much time as necessary to find my profitable keywords. Ideally, 500 or more monthly searches is the benchmark, but that just isn't always a reality. Low competition or QSR (quoted search results) of under 400/month is equally critical.

Having an exact match keyword for a domain name or an article title is the climber's tool du jour. Sir Edmund Hillary wouldn't attempt Mount Google without it. Again, it can be done in other ways but no need to handicap yourself in the journey. In the absence of an exact match, a keyword or phrase in the title with the aforementioned qualifying criteria will suffice.

Give Your Keyword Some Exercise

Once you find profitable keywords, you need to give them the proper exercise. A little techno savvy here goes a long way. Keyword density, in your article should not exceed two percent or the standard of good taste and keyword stuffing is a Bozo No No. However, a great way to optimize your keyword density is through your page/post titles, headings, categories (in your sidebar widgets) alt tags and meta descriptions. If you have wordpress and All in one SEO then some of this is done for you. Get the most mileage possible for your KW.

Image Optimization

A picture is wortth a thousand words, especially to Google. Images enhance the audience experience and put a serious giddy-up in Google. One article I wrote for a directory dropped in rank from over twelve thousand to under one thousand just because I added one photo. A quantum leap compliments of one image. You get to double dip on the image with the use of your alt tag and image description. Yet another opportunity to increase your keyword density and take the tanking out of your ranking.

Content Is King; Continuity Is Queen

Since the Google Panda debacle, the new constant is quality content and lots of it. The more articles with backlinks you have, the better off you are. Not just tonnage, but quality content which enhances the audience experience; the kind of content which is well thought out and heavily researched. Readers need to come away with the feeling of "Hey, I'd like to see what else he's written", a sense of enlightenment and enrichment for having visited your site. When people come away with this feeling they're more apt to comment and share, once again...Google green lights. A heavy occurrence of inbound links is also an indicator to Google of quality content. The more the merrier!

Social Media

Another avenue for cheap and easy SEO weight is the social media craze. Although it's not imperative, it's a freebie so why not take advantage of it. The downside is that you have to create fan pages for some of the different platforms but it really doesn't take that long and is well worth the time investment. You can easily add a social media bar to your site by the use of a social plugin. If you have a great article that is well 'liked' by the socmeds, it will add a great deal of weight to your article and reputation as a writer. Also, by adding your article to Digg and Reddit, it automatically gets optimized.

Internet Marketing, like anything tecnology related, sees innovation on a daily basis. This isn't a field where stagnation reigns supreme. Finding a truly good resource for an ongoing education can really make life easier. I'm constantly searching resources to find new ideas and tricks to add to my repertoire.

Look for the sequel, 'More Top Tips For SEO', coming soon. Till then, best of luck with your IM career and stay away from the shiny objects.