1. Basic web page optimization Your Content is key Competing for a good position on the search engins means having fresh and relevant content about your subject. More of your pages will get indexed and more sites will want to link to you. Your Keywords are key Choose keywords on which you can compete effectively and match your page content. Don't try to list 100 keywords in your Meta Tag to try to come up under everything. It just won't work.Search engins like Google don't use your meta tags to determine what your page is about. Do lots of keyword research to find keywords that get enough traffic, but don't have very high competition - often easier said than done. Your Main Page is key DOMAIN : Get your own domain name and use keywords in that domain name that best describe your site.TITLE: Your page title must contain the keywords you're trying to get listed under. The title is the text between <title> and </title> in your html code and the headline on the page between <h1> and </h1> tags. The Title should : a. Contain your best researched keywords within the first few words
b. Describe what your site is about - human visitors appreciate this
c. Be 65 characters or less, or it won't be listed by some search enginsKEYWORDS: Make sure your keywords are in the Keyword Meta Tag, but don't stuff them with every word possible. One or two keywords or phrases per page is enough, more and you'll lose page focus, as well as your keyword density gets diluted. DESCRIPTION: Make sure your keywords are in a 150 character maximum description of your site. At the same time remember potential visitors may see this description in search results. So, it also needs to sound inviting enough for them to click through to your site. COMMENTS: The comment tags aren't used by all of the engins, but you can still include a short comment on your site full of some of the keywords. It could help you out on a couple of the search engins. KEYWORDS IN THE PAGE: Each page on your site needs to include your keywords for that page throughout the text with a keyword density between 3% and 10%. Since the major search engins filter out common stop words, like a, and, the number of words viewed by search engins will always be less than the real word count. This means the keyword density as seen by the search engins will be higher. Use the keywords as naturally as you can, Don't forget humans read it ....... you hope ! KEYWORD PROXIMITY: Keywords found closer together on the page ( proximity) can carry a higher importance with search engins than keywords spaced further apart. IMAGE TAGS: List your keywords inside image Alt tags, but don't over do it. Some search engins have declared they will remove pages from their index that use keyword stuffing in an effort to gain higher keyword prominence. Also keep in mind these tags will be seen by visitors and heard by the visually impaired. LINKS: Major search engins take account of the number of links and the popularity of those links coming to and from your pages and other pages linking to your site. It's becoming increasingly important to trade links ( reciprocal linking ) with as many RELATED sites as possible. Internal links between your own pages are also counted, so make sure each page links to your main index page or a site map that in turn links to your main index page. Search engins love site maps, so make sure you have one that the search engins spiders can use to find all the pages you want them to find. Not all links are equal, some search engins rank sites higher if they are linked to directories like Yahoo or the Open Directory (dmoz.com). LINK DESCRIPTION: Use a link description that includes your main keyword phrase for the page you are linking to. It adds weight to the fact that the page is about what the link description says. When using link descriptions from other sites, vary the phrasing to make it a more natural mix. Don't have all links saying exactly the same, it looks to contrived to many search engins. LINKING URL: Use your main keyword phrase for the page you are linking to in the URL linking to this other page. KEYWORD PROMINENCE: Try to place your keyword phrases as close to the beginning of all Title and Heading text, in Link descriptions and URL's and at the beginning of main body sentences on the page. If this sounds like a lot to do, you'd be right, it is. This will make your pages more interesting to search engins and get you a higher ranking. If you couple this with the need to still have content your human visitors will find interesting, and well written enough to read, it can be a tall order to fulfil. Oh! And of course we havn't finished yet, we still have to include quality content and gain links to our website. This article on search engin ranking continues at:Search Engins - Are they worth the ranking effort - Part 2 ? | 
