What Google Wants

"PageRank is the measure of the importance of a page based on the incoming links from other pages. In simple terms, each link to a page on your site from another site adds to your site's PageRank."

There have been books written on how to achieve ranking inside of a search engine like Google, but let's face the facts: There are only 10 positions on the front page of Google, and millions of website owners that want to be there. We consider ranking within any search engine to be nothing more than a giant popularity contest. Each link from outside your website pointing back to you is a vote of popularity. The more popular you are the better your position will be. If someone types in one of your keywords, and you are the most popular for that keyword then you will be listed. (That's why search engine optimization is important) However, just because you optimized your site for search engines doesn't mean you will ever be found by consumers. Take a look at this article written by Google. It will tell you in a lot of detail exactly what it takes to gain exposure inside their search engine.