You should look here:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769
And you need to set up an account at
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/siteoverview
and
http://www.google.com/analytics/indexu.html
Although the rules in this game is ever changing, there is lots of books on the subject. Search for SEO at Amazon, and sort the books by rating.