I am on page one or two on MSN/Yahoo for my car parts site but Google I am usually ranked around #100. Wtf. I don't have many backlinks, but what other areas should I focus on to get better rankings on Google. I have focused mainly on Meta's and Alt tags so far.

Google order search result based on PageRank, what is your PageRank compare to others ?

I faced similar problems for my blog <URL SNIPPED> where it is listed as No.29 for MSN and No. 132 for Yahoo under the keyword "tech blog", of course searching with unique word "it-sideways" would return No.1 for all, but google won't list me even among top 400 for "tech blog".

This is because the top 400 all has higher pageRank than I do. my current pageRank is 3/10 while the top 400 are at least 4/10. The top guys are 5/10 or 6/10.

Thus, I guess the answer is to improve your pageRank. i am not sure how.. most likely you need to have a lot more incoming links and wait for the next Google ranking update. (don't know when)

otherwise, you have to pay for it. and even if your pageRank is among the best, you might not be No.1 because other people who already got there must be given priority; if we are talking about ethicality.

check out my blog on SEO findings.

<URL SNIPPED>

Yeah I don't even have a pagerank. I come up first for my company name , but all the major parts I sell are what I am getting to come up on MSN/Yahoo but not Google. It's hard when you are a reseller to find relative people to backlink with. But the good news is that if someone is looking to buy something chances are they are using Yahoo anyways.

hmm... i think probably Yahoo is still more famous than Google to certain people.

Google could be the de-facto now, but Yahoo was the pioneer. Yahoo was famous even on the very earlier time of Internet, around 1997. This is the same time Google sent its algorithm for patent, it took them 3 years and they came out on year 2000.

To prove this point, my father(who is not an Internet addict), would recognize Yahoo than Google.

Therefore, probably Yahoo has its own supporter too. and good for them.

I have the same problem with my site at <URL SNIPPED> (PR 3/10). I think it is because Google index more sites, and they do it more regularly so the competition is stiffer. Google index my site almost daily, MSN about every 2 - 3 weeks and Yahoo every 4 - 6 weeks. Google also index more of my pages. I can't recall where I read this statistic, but Google is used by about half internet searchers, with Yahoo accounting for about a third and MSN most of the rest.

I've been experimenting with different things, such as when I post to a forum I try to include some of my keywords, like Resume, Curriculum Vitae or CV with my link to see if this affects the relevance of the link.

The other thing to be aware of is you probably have more Google links than show up when you do a backlink check. I've just been reading that Google has started to deliberately hide the number of backlinks as a reaction to various SEO techniques which undermine Googles attempt to deliver relevant search results.

The moral of the story sseems to be focus on good content, relevant to your keywords, and beprepared for a long wait!

Incidentally, my site had a PR value of zero for about 4 months. I got a bit depressed about this until I read that Google only update PR every 3 - 4 months. Then one day, BINGO, I was a PR 3.

When Google deliver search results Page Ranking is a factor in how well you come up, but not the only one. It is possible for a lower ranked page to appear higher in the results.

I don't know what evidence there is to support that statement.

What I do know is that all major media research outlets tell us that Google has a higher market share in the USA.

Google likes to see constant link building, whereas I think MSN and Yahoo's algos are more tolerant of webmaster that are not constantly link hunting.

I agree its difficult often for retailers to get links. The quickest solution: Buy text link advertisements with your keyword in as your anchor text.

In my experience MSN seems to focus a little more on the on page aspects of SEO. If you want to improve in google work on building more and more relevant links to your site.