Much has changed with search engine optimization since I first wrote this article nearly two years ago, so I thought it high time that it was totally rewritten.

At the time I published the original, Google was operating in a very different way. It would place the great emphasis when calculating rankings on your first paragraph, so it was important to cram all your important key

(Originally published May 2002, updated 6/03, 11/03, 2/04, 3/04)

Way back in 2000, the thought of paying to have sites ranked on a search engine or included in a directory was laughable; very few companies were asking for payment. But as rampant commercialism of the World Wide Web has taken hold, more and more search engines now require payment for listing or ranking