There are numerous factors to rank high in Google search engine which is measured by the Google algorithm. 1. One of the important factor is open directory project (ODP). Google seems to favor the sites which are listed in ODP.
2. Optimize your web page and check your html code. Your page should have a relevant title. The title should contain your most important keyword. Your title may contain 3-5 words but you should place your keyword in the first word of the title. Your page should have a description relevant to your page. All the words in the description should be found in the body text. The keyword density is another very important factor for ranking high. It should be between % 3-5. You should use your keyword somewhere in the first words of your body text. You should also use your keyword in your H1 heading.
3. Link popularity is another factor which has a growing importance for Google. The more number of backlinks your page ranks higher. BUT, you should be cautious in this matter. Your backlink (one-way link) number should grow in a natural way. If you buy links from many sites on the same day and you have eg. one million backlinks, this is not natural and you can go to the sandbox (which is a penalty).
4. Domain age is another important factor. You should be patient to rank higher. You can get backlinks slowly in the first 3-6 months after Google update, you can be faster to get backlinks. Your backlinks should be from different IP 's. Many pages from a same domain or IP does not bring you much points though it is also necessary.
5. Add pages to your web site in a continuous way. For example at least one page per week. Do not create dublicated pages or pages with similar content.
6. Do not create a dublicated or mirror site.
7. Content is king. Create an original content. Do not make copy pages from other sites. Google is clever enough to check copy pages.
8. Create a sitemap.xml and robots.text which are loved by Google.
9. Increase you backlinks by making comments on relevant blog pages. You can use your keyword as your nameabout % 60 of these comments which is treated as anchor text by Google. But you should use your other keywords in % 40 of your comments.
10. Generally backlinks are concentrated on the index page. However you can try to get backlinks also for your inner pages, ideally this can be % 50.
11. Use text links not image link. Google does not see images. If you use image use alt-text for the image.
12. Do not try to hide text or images such as writing text with the same color as background.
13. Do not fill your page with irrelevant words. Over using your keyword will not improve your rank.
14. Only submit your homepage to Google. You do not need to submit your inner pages.
15. Think of writing original articles that are not written by others.
16. When creating a new page, use the keyword of page the in the name of the file.
17. Check your site for broken links. When Google sees a broken link, the bot stops visiting your site.
18. Try not to exceed 100 K page size. Also do not exceed 100 links on the same page.
19. Do not sign for linkfarms or freeforall pages.
20. Do not use meta refresh in your pages. Instead you can use a link on your page.