Google is the major search engine webmasters have to deal with in regards to gain traffic from a search engine. Yes, Yahoo and MSN are big, too - but they are only follow-ups compared to Google's popularity. While you can gain significant traffic from these 2 great search engines, having a good spot in Google is critical for a website's success.

Google PageRank is one visible sign of how well a website can do in Google. It is by far only one indicator and not the one sign of success in Google. The quarterly updates to the Google Toolbar show how websites can move up or down in the popularity rankings. PageRank is calculated by how many other websites link to a certain website. A combination of own PR and if a link is related to the overall category a website is in, will determine how valuable the link is and what PR a linked to website will eventually gain from it. The hunt for links to a domain is a task for every webmaster who wants to have a successful website.

There are many ways to gain more back links to a website. I recently stumbled over two interesting ways to gain some good back links that are free and offer additional exposure at the same time. Adbrite.com is an advertising broker connecting advertisers and publishers. They keep part of the price for a package as commission. Start selling advertising on their network and you can get a free link to your site by doing this - even if you use a dummy page with their advertising code on it. Their website is fully indexed by Google and others and the link of your 'package' will count towards links pointing to your website. Nobody will buy advertising on your website but you just gained a free link to your site that will eventually push your Page Rank.

Ever published a press release? Go and check out PRweb.com. They offer free and/or low cost press release publication distribution. Write a nice press release and add a link to your site appropriately placed in the text. Press releases are being picked up by search engines including Google.com. Your press release can show up on different websites and get you back links. But the nice thing is - Google spiders PRweb.com's archive and that's where a link to your website will be picked up for sure. Many websites already use press releases for promotion. Many others do not.