Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the marketing and sales implications of page ranking techniques, in terms of how companies may use knowledge of their operation to increase the chances of attracting custom. Design/methodology/approach – Explaining the calculation, implementation and impact of the PageRank and Topic Sensitive Page Ranking is the prerequisite to recapitulating existing search engine optimization strategies and to identifying new methods for leveraging the Internet for sales and marketing purposes. Findings – Different strategies have to be adapted to effectively attract potential customers. Originality/value – This paper aligns the complex calculations of the two concepts to enable a comparison. The changing technology of search engines means that they are getting ever more complex – this article offers a snapshot of major developments. Keywords Internet marketing, Search engines, Customers Paper type Research paper