Not ranking for keywords. wehhh

[Johnny_AppleSeed]

I am not ranking for any of my keywords despite getting a number of Backlinks to my pages and mentioning them in both content and meta tags?!

[Chris.Menke]

Well Tristram, you have to put your efforts into context with the competitors who are filling the search results between where your search result is and the ones on the first page of the search results and then you have to think about how much money there is to be made by those who are at the top of the results.

Considering there are only 10 places available on page-one and there's probably decent money to be made for those who show up on that page, it's likely the folks at the top have put in somewhat greater effort than it takes to get a number of back links and mentioning their keywords in content and meta tags. It's also likely that the folks on page-two and three have put in somewhat greater effort in their attempt to get to page-one.  Likewise, those folks one page 4 and 5 have probably been plugging away at it for quite some time, as well, and recognize that it's all about how much time, effort and organic search marketing know-how you apply that gets you to your goal.

While there is no tried and true formula for reaching the top of the results, the basics can be found here.  But remember, it's not about just doing what Google wants you to do, it's about doing what Google wants you to do better than all your competitors. That means you first have to know what Google wants, then you have to recognize how well your competitors are doing it.  In the end, you have to make a decision on whether you have what it takes to go toe to toe with your keyword competitors or if you should choose a different strategy.

[kayintveen_MD]

Luie Chris mentIons effort is needed.  But also time and patience. Could you tell us how long the pages are online. did you submit site maps and such.