SE Overview: Optimization Tricks

Although there is no "magic formula" for high ranking in all the search engines, there are a few HTML coding tricks you can use to further increase your keyword density, popularity, and relevance. Please keep in mind that moderation is the key. Always using a certain tactic or relying to heavily on coding tricks is a recipe for disaster.

Even Code

Most webmasters do not realize that search engines not only weigh the apparent text on the page when measuring density, many spiders are weighing the entire weight of the code of the page. In some cases each indexing spiders will scan a section of your code for keywords, such as the top, middle, or bottom of the page. Some engines do not read your Meta tag description and instead use the first line of text on your site or pull random text from within a part of your page. Others will cache your page and pull the relevant text that matches the searches query to use as a description for your page - resulting in different descriptions for different searches. This is why it is important to have an even spread of keyword throughout the entire HTML code of the page, and why it is best to keep your keyword content in legible sentence form.

I have found when creating doorway pages and templates that simple, lightweight code often has the best ranking. This is because the spider does not have to filter through large amounts of code to pull keywords and follow links. Fast, clean, and relevant.

Heavy code, such as HTML that contains large amounts of JavaScript, creates a problem for the spider, who if in case is only indexing the first 50 lines of code, cannot find indexable text. JavaScript does not always have to be embedded in the page; it can be pulled from an external JavaScript file. For example, if you have a large JavaScript code for a rotating banner, you can put the script into a text file and name it bannerscript.js and upload it to your server (note: do not include the open and close Javascript tags as they are already included in the tag to call the text file.)

Embed into your page and the JavaScript code will be called remotely, keeping the actual script off you page and keeping your code lighter for search engines to find the "meat and potatoes" of your page.

DreamWeaver also has a "Clean Up HTML" function that will remove any redundant tags, such as unused font tags, for a quick and easy code tightening job. Want to see an example of what your page looks like to a search engine spider? Try the Search Engine Simulator.

The same is true for CSS Style sheets and tags. Using includes to remove heavy graphical elements that appear on every page of your site are also useful. Learn more about includes and how to use them at HTML Basix.

Images Tags

Most search engines still look at image Name/Title and Alt tags, especially for those images that are links. If you do not have room to place visible text at the top of your page (see Optimization Factors - Back to Basics), be sure to put Alt tags on the first loading image (right to left, top to bottom). I like to use my most relevant kewyord phrase variations in these tags so it is a good idea that the text to use is your Meta Description or keyword phrases in case the search engine is not looking at Meta tags. Try to vary your keyword phrase usage in your Alt tags, and keep them to a short sentence that either describes the image that is linking, or the image itself in relevance to your site. For those of you who don't know, Alt tags look like this:

Hidden Tags

Hidden input tags are great for filling in keyword-sparse portion of your code, especially at the foot of your page. Before your and , try inserting a hidden input tag that contains your most highly targeted keywords in sentence form. It's OK to use commas here to separate primary phrases, just try not to use more than 5 commas on one sentence.

Example:

Translated:

Anchor Tags

Don't let your HTML editor fool you; there are numbers ways to manipulate code that may appear "illegal" or "broken" in your HTML editor that actually work fine in every browser - I call this "gumby code"!. Anchor tags are used to "bookmark" and link to different parts of the same page. Anchor tags are one of them and a great place to insert singular primary keyword phrases. Example: . Try to keep each named anchor near relevant text. You may also link a keyword phrase to the name anchor Primary keyword phrase . Note that named anchors should not usually have spaces and may only "link" the first word after the "#".

Using correct, functional anchor tags and linking directly to a keyword anchor from another page is a strong tool for optimization.

Heavily Nested Tables

Since search engines have a hard time indexing text that is more than three tables deep, you may want to copy the nested text and either insert it in a comment or hidden input tag before or after the heavily nested table set to make it easier for the spider to find, read, and index.

Other great resources for learning optimization tricks can be found at JK Bowman's Spider Food and at AdultChamber.com.