One of the key misconceptions that exists about page ranking is that your onpage optimization is the most crucial thing of all. What many people are not aware of is that your offpage optimization can in fact play a far bigger part in where your site ends up, and how it is recognised for being there.

An example of this was demonstrated when one of the big software players was found to be the number one ranked site for the keywords click here. This came about not because they had conducted an onpage optimization of these words, lets face it if you are hot on onpage optimization that would be a cardinal sin! This came about because this software was used to view pages on such an extensive number of high quality sites, and the links to their pages were anchored in the phrase click here. The phrase click here in fact does not appear on their page at all!

So why should you need to know all this? Well the point that you need to grasp in this is that offpage optimization and linking can in fact be a far bigger factor in how your page ranks than the onpage optimization. You should never forget that the offpage optimization is more often how the search engines find you organically and therefore the key to real success if how and where your sites links originate.

Two of the biggest factors of all are demonstrated when you evaluate the example of the software company. They have links originating at authority sites, and they obviously have a lot of links anchored to the words click here. When you are conducting your offpage optimization you need to use this as a lesson to help you establish strong, high quality links.

If you can establish links with authority sites then you are establishing links that are generally placed higher already in the page rankings. If you want to go one better again, then establishing a link with a site that originates from a .edu or .gov domain gives extra weight, and these are viewed as the most authority and most highly trusted sources.

Following on from that is the necessity to establish good links from appropriate anchor text. If your anchor text relates to your keywords and you have done a good job with the onpage optimization, so much the better. The anchor text where the link originates however can be just as important. If your anchor text is done well then you will rank highly for the key product or service that you want to bring traffic to your site for. If it is done poorly then you could end up with a heap of traffic that moves on after viewing your site.

When you conduct your onpage optimization, then stick with the basics and do them well. Aim to strike a balance between having an appealing website that is informative to viewers and a website that keeps the search engine crawlers moving through as you need them to. After you have done this, work flat out on your offpage optimization to really get the traffic to your page. Your offpage optimization will be the key factor in boosting both your page ranking and your traffic flow, so dont fall into the trap of being caught up in small issues like keyword densities and loose sight of the bigger picture.