For those who are new to the webmaster industry, getting top SEO placement can be a daunting task. However, by keeping a few SEO Tips in mind, the task can become much easier to manage. Below are the top 20 seo tips - in no order - that can save time and help you create top SEO placement:

1. Of course, the first step is to do your research! Search for the terms that you'd like to go after. Search for Google's keyword research tool to find the best keywords and compare them with the amount of traffic.
2. Before you start doing any link-building, make the on-page changes first. This includes title/meta tags, H1/H2, and link structure. Without these, rankings will be almost impossible.
3. The first step is to get quality backlinks by writing an article and submitting to 30-100 article directories. These sites give you a resource box that can be used to promote your site and gain backlinks.
4. Use social bookmarking sites. Don't expect miracles from these sites, but they're free links, so use them anyways!
5. Do you participate in online message boards? If so, add a link to your site using your keyword as the anchor text.
6. Whatever your site's topic is, content is key! Write great content, people will find you and link to you, for free.
7. For the content on your site, don't worry too much about keyword density, as long as it's under 6-8% you should be fine.
8. Squidoo and Hubpages are great sources of free backlinks. Write an article and post two different versions to these sites. Be sure to include direct links back to your site using your keywords.
9. Once items 1-8 are complete. Start purchasing reviews from blogs. Sites like payperpose.com and others offer reviews (including a backlink for as low as $5 each.
10. Do a press release with PRWeb, include your links and you'll often get dozens of backlinks. But be sure to select one of the more expensive options, as this will give your links more exposure.
11. Stay away from black-hat seo! The potential penalties far outweigh any gains. This includes anything that the search engines would highly frown upon, and may get you banned.
12. Most blogs use nofollow, meaning the search engines don't count these links to your site. So blog comments won't do much for you.
13. The keywords meta tag is useless, Google has now made this public on their webmaster blog.
14. Stay away from redirecting your homepage. Even if this is an innocent page, it's a tactic used by spammers and may get you banned from google.
15. Be sure to check your rankings often. "What gets measured gets improved."
16. Know your competition: some terms are easier to rank for than others. When doing your research, target the low-hanging fruit; results will come faster and easier.
17. Website directories can help to some degree. Submit your site to as many as possible for the best results.
18. It's best to build fresh links every month, between 200-500+ depending on the size/age of the site.
19. Search engines love fresh content. Add something new to your site least 2x per week and the search engines will give your site more credibility.
20. Hire a pro to do the link building work for you. It will save you time and money in the long run.