Getting ranked really boils down to three things:

1. Good Content

2. Backlinks

3. Social Media

Good Content

As far as word count the new norm is 500 words or more. Google looks for subject indicators in the title, url string, and first paragraph.

Time spent on page is also a contributing factor in their evaluation, so "good content" means engaging for your readers.

Keywords: We haven't seen any change in where keywords are most effective, e.g., title, url code, and 1 to 2 percent density throughout the article.

Backlinks

The Panda and Penguin updates have thrown the traditional backlink methodologies scrambling for new ways of securing good backlinks.

For years and years the old traditional backlink farms were quite effective. There were some popular ones like build my rank that are all gone now. Webmasters are now relying on long-tail keywords and higher quality backlinks to fill the void.

Guest posting is also back in style because it's a good way to get a high quality backlink from reputable sites.

Social Media

There are three top tiered social media sites that everyone is flocking to, they are:

1. Facebook

2. Twitter

3. Google +

You can throw in YouTube and Pinterest as other contenders, but the three mentioned above are the front runners at the moment.

Google likes the fact that other people like your site/page/post enough to mention it to others who in like kind do the same - it's called "viral."

It takes work, that's for sure so you better make sure you have something of value before you go through all the hoops of the ranking game.

The question you'll want to answer is, is it worth it? If this is a question in your mind then you will find "life without Google" interesting reading.