You may have heard all about the horrific tales and stories when is comes to meeting your girlfriends dad for the first time. As the sweat surges down your forehead as you think of the first greet and meet, you have already pre-determined that he will be polishing his shot gun while slowly examining you with a fine tooth comb, ready to extract any and all body parts that hang externally from your body. More than likely you will find that your girlfriends father isn’t at all what you expected and that if you treat him well, in turn, he will treat you well. Google is exactly the same way. When it comes to SEO, it’s a long and unnerving process, but in the end if you treat Google right, it will treat you right too.

Research:
You need to know your environment. Do your homework. If you were meeting your significant other’s Father you would hopefully try to figure out what he likes/dislikes and other distinguishing personality traits in order to be able to exhibit a quality conversation with him. This is no different when it comes to SEO and Google. SEO is like a constant conversation between you and the search engines. If the search engines like your content, they will keep you around and indexed well, if not you will be indexed on page # 1,204,506. So read up: Google’s search engine optimization tips.

Wait:
Never rush the process and remember, timing is everything. Meeting the rents too early might be a huge mistake and they might not take you seriously if your are not ready. Don’t design your website without considering SEO. At the start of any SEO campaign make sure that all on-site SEO changes are complete before you jump into any off-site SEO. If you don’t do on-site SEO updates/changes than the links you build to your site won’t be as powerful. Follow the on-site SEO check list below to make sure your site is SEO friendly:

Unique Title Tags: 65 characters or less.
Unique Description Tags: 160 characters or less.
Build Internal Links: provide anchor text to priority pages.
H1-H6 Tags: Create heading tags.
Alt Tags: Added relevant keyword phrases to image.
Site Map: Create an XML sitemap.
Blog: Create a blog.
301 Redirect: Establish a 301 redirect between the URL “www.” and “http://.”
Content: Create dynamic and relevant keyword rich content.

Venue:
Choosing the right location will always win you brownie points. Your girlfriends father will either favor your or despise you, depending on his own likes/dislikes. Remember that the meeting should be on neutral ground, so as not to create a power struggle. When it comes to Google, make sure your website is set-up to be easily indexed. Don’t hide your websites pages behind a bunch of password protected code, because these pages will never get indexed. Keep your website open and viewable to the public. Also, try to stay away from entirely javascript or flash-driven websites, because this content will not get indexed by Google.

Punctuality:
Always be on-time. Being late will only leave a pungent odor in the mouth of your girlfriends father. In terms of Google, make sure you continue to provide the search engine with fresh content. If you don’t give the search engine the content it wants on a fairly regular basis you might not experience total success. Creating fresh content, quality links to your site and generating press releases within a timely manner and distributing content through several online channels. Use some of these external strategies to distribute fresh content, with hyperlinked keyword iterations back to your site.

Press Release Submission: pr.com
Article Submissions: scribd.com, docstoc.com, articlesbase.com
Social Bookmarking: Digg.com, Mixx.com, Faves.com

Flattery:
Flattery is always a great strategy. If you don’t do it effectively however you may be eating dirt from the sole of your girlfriends father’s shoes. In the same token, stroke Google’s ego. Following the above steps will give you a favorable outlook in the “eyes” of Google and keep you relevant in the search engines. Make big daddy Google proud.