Back in the early days of the Internet, circa 1996, there was a search engine called Lycos, then came Web Crawler, then MSN, then hundreds of smaller search engines came into being as the popularity of the the Internet took off and as more people figured out how to get online.

Yahoo emerged in the late 1990s as "the" search engine, and a few years later a new company called Google was launched, proving that if you built a better search engine, people would switch quickly to something that was better.

In the mid 1990s, just having a website could get you some traffic and search engines were to come a little later. But once Lycos established itself as an internet "tool" programmers began looking for ways to "trick" the search engine which used "spidering" to find and catalog websites.

As times have changed, so has how search engines work. Websites that used to be found easily doing a search, may not work as well today. Also, as the internet becomes ever more crowded with websites, common keywords are in high demand, making it harder than ever to achieve high search engine rankings for some words.

SEO—real and imagined

Over the years many search engine optimization (SEO) companies have also come—and gone. Some SEO companies specialize in a quick fix and often expensive solutions that "trick" the search engines into thinking your website is more than it really is, while other SEO companies have kept their nose to the grindstone, learning what new search engines want, how they work and adapting the clients' website so they can be seen.

Today, everyone wants to be number on in Google, since it does have the largest market share and it seems just about everyone uses Google.

While it is possible to be number one, practicing a common sense approach will help your business to achieve more realistic goals.

Getting to number one in search results

Can your website be number one?  Sure, just look at Wikipedia.

A few years ago, no one had heard of Wikipedia, the online open source encyclopedia written and edited by almost everyone.  Increasingly, when you do a search on a topic, they come up number one or within the first few results.

I predict that in a couple more years, no one will be able to claim the coveted number one spot on a google search, unless they are paying for a sponsored ad.

Wikipedia is doing what Google likes, so they are getting rewarded with very high positioning.

Setting realistic goals

Keep in mind it takes more than just following the search engine optimization "rules" and creating a search engine friendly website.

Often it is is impossible to be in the top ten search engine results without a lot of work on your website, and sometimes it takes many months, or even years to achieve top positions.

Build on a solid foundation

Start with a solid, search-engine friendly website architecture. This will save you a lot of time and effort, and will be worth it in the long run.

Many content management systems (CMSs) will have the ability to create individual pages that have meta tags and website page names that are easy for search engines to find and catalog.

If you have an older website that is not search engine friendly, consider a major redesign and go with a CMS that will help our website pages to be found easily.

Doing what Google says you should do

In terms of search engines, there is the right way, the wrong way and the Google way.

Google has a Webmaster Tools area that is loaded with guidelines, tips and how-to information. There are no "secrets"—Google has dozens if not thousands of pages of information of what you should do to make your website relevent.

In a nutshell, Google rewards website owners with higher search results when they do things right and they punish website owners with low search engine results for not doing things the Google way.

Google is all about links and relevant content, but that does not mean that several hundred pages of content and a few hundred links will make your website come up first—but it will help.

What about Yahoo, Bing and other search engines?

There are thousands of search engines, but most people use the top three: Google, Bing and Yahoo.

It is also important to follow the website guidelines for these search engines as well so your website has a better chance of being found, catalogued and recommended to potential customers.

When should you work with an SEO "expert"?

It is possible to do your own SEO, but most website owners just don't have the time to read through all the SEO guidelines and to apply even basic SEO principals to their website.

Avoid SEO companies who promise to get you to number one positioning in all the search engines. While they may be able to do this by manipulating the search engines or using special strategies, often these "special" techniques will backfire. Google will push you to the bottom of search results if they detect you are using "manipulative" techniques.

If you do not have someone on staff who has the time to implement basic SEO with your website, consider hiring a reputable firm who can help you with the basics of SEO and who has several years of experience and references they are willing to share with you.