[tutorial]Search Engine Optimization

[Tim]

Search Engine Optimization

I'm going to assume that you have a little bit of knowledge on how to construct a tableless design.

You're on a need to know basis...
...and you need to know that a search engine is a lot different from a human. Sure some of us are machines browsing the web 24/7 but we all act the same. The first thing we spot is the content. We don't see the menu until we need it.
A search engine doesn't work that way. It goes through the HTML code one line at a time, and here's the trick. The higher up the content is in the HTML code, the more valuable it will seem to a search engine. But that's not everything, it will also rank pages with higher density key words a bit better.

First up
Normal table designs use this lay-out codewise:
Logo Cell, ad cell, menu cell and finally the content cell.

Using CSS to create a tableless design you should lay-out the code like this:
Content div, menu div, logo and ad div.
Because we can use CSS positioning, we can lay-out the screen the exact way a table would, but only this time it's search optimized code.

A new word order!
I could make up a new text, but I'm lazy and I won't do it, so instead I beeped out the name of the program. the keywords are highlighted:

Welcome to the official home of *beep*. *beep* is a leading free forum software package that rivals any professional message board out there. It provides a real-time chat and support system for your visitors. While chat programs allow people to talk directly, you have to be on them 24/7 to please everyone. With forum software like *beep*, you can talk any time, and everyone can join in or read the conversation. Build a community and get visitors to come back, for interesting discussions, fun chit chat, or needed support without having to spend thousands of dollars. Why choose *beep*? This system is the world's first and most popular open-source Perl forum software! All you need to do to get started is download *beep* from this site for FREE and install it on your existing website! You can control every aspect of your forum...

That's 25 keywords in just one paragraph and it's the first thing a search engine encounters.
So do some research into the most used and descriptive keywords that people could use to find your site. Then cram them all into a little welcome text.

You may not believe it, and I may not have the time right now to make this more detailed, but my search engine rankings skyrocketed from the second page, to the top of the first. It's sent over 10% more visitors to the site.

Whenever I have some more time I'll write up something a little bit more newbie proof. but for now, you'll have to use your head and the example to up your ranking

[Curbow 5]

could you add some info about internal linking vs. external linking strategies?

[Tim]

I'll try to add what I know/ can do research on

[Anguz]

good SEO starting point, thanks!

[Tristan Perry]

Nice  Thanks for this. I've started using keyword optimization for my website Now to wait and see whether my amount of visitors go up!

[[Unknown]]

Some illustration... just did it to test something, and browser compatibility.

Tested in IE 4.0 and higher, Opera 6 and higher, Gecko...

-[Unknown]

[jdougher]

I wish I understood even one word of this. Could someone rephrase for normal people?