there is a lottttt of criteria that Google considers when they populate a list of organic results.

ip address, data content, mobile compatibility, page count, links, traffic, domain longevity, keywords, density, to name a few.

Think about it. There are like 60 trillion pages out there that google is crawling through every time someone searches for something. If you want to be a viable option- you need to know how people are looking for you, and what info they want to see. Catering to the end user is what made google so successful, and I recommend everyone handle their website with the same goal in mind.

the best way to make good use of your site is to make sure it has all of the core elements google looks for, and keep it up to date. You can have a strong presence with a good combination of the things above, but I CAN CERTAINLY CONFIRM through years of experience, that content is king. ( even videos hold a lot of content)

Adwords are the only way to guarantee placement. Without them, you have to be on your game to stay at the top of the list as it is every-changing.

We have a multitude of websites, and I have learned that in addition to the general rules, each industry in each specific zip code has different competition, and if you want to rank higher, you should be doing what they're doing,plus some. Are their reviews better than yours? Has their site been around longer? Does it get more hits? Research your competition. Compare your website contents to theirs through internetmarketingninja..... but better, and use additional avenues they're not taking advantage of.

I imagine its hard for one individual to do this. It takes a team these days now that the internet is so competitive. Which is why companies like ours are so valued. When you pass these tasks to an expert, they can get it done hassle free and in a timely manner.