Because 90 per cent of online sessions begin with a search, and 30 per cent of users believe that companies found in the top results are the market leaders, it's important for businesses to rank high with Google and other search engines. David Ciccarelli, CEO of Voices.com, offers 10 tips to increase your ranking and help drive traffic to your company's website.

1. Create a keyword list that your customer's would use when searching the Internet for your products or services. Incorporate them into the copy on your website. For example, if you sell pens you might use obvious words - pen or pens - but also: markers, felt marker, Sharpie pen, and so on.
2. Expand your keyword list with synonyms using a keyword research tool like Google's free Keyword Tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal.
3. Use an Excel spreadsheet to organize your keyword list into thematic groups. Use this as your reference tool when writing product descriptions or articles for your website.
4. Use your keywords in your website copy: e.g. 'how to' articles, press releases, case studies highlighting positive customer experiences.
5. Build links from other websites to your website: e.g. authority links from newspapers or industry associations, online directories, press release websites, or exchanging links with other websites that relate to your business.
6. Sign up for Google Webmaster tools (http://www.google.com/webmasters). This tool helps you understand how Google sees your website, with information about top search queries used to get to your website, number of links pointing to your website, broken links on your site, and more.
7. Monitor your website traffic and track your success with Google Analytics - http://www.google.com/analytics/. This free tool lets you see how many people visit your website and where they come from, how many pages they view and how long they stay to better understand how your customers are using your website. One caveat, Google Analytics may require the help of a webmaster to get it set up properly.
8. With 200 million users it's hard to ignore the fact that many potential customers are on Facebook. Set up an account, and then join a Facebook group for your industry, connecting you with like-minded people and offering the opportunity to share information, ideas, business challenges and more. If a group you want doesn't exist, create it.
9. Another social networking tool, geared more towards businesses, is LinkedIn. Create a profile, link to colleagues and grow your contacts. Ask for referrals to give you a higher ranking. Like Facebook you can also join and start your own groups there.
10. The newest social network, and fastest growing website on the Internet, Twitter, allows you to broadcast bite-sized updates (140 key strokes) about you or your business by answering the question "What are you doing?" It's a quick and easy way to share your thoughts and, ultimately, inspire readers to learn more about your business and what you have to offer.