| The way you use HTML in your web pages affects your standing in the search engines. Search engines are like the casting directors to a potentially lucrative movie production ? they approve whether you appear in the listings or not. If you're not careful about using HTML, you might just miss getting cast yourself. Make your appearance by learning how to write HTML pages in a way that search engines will love. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you: Learn the language. If you don?t know HTML yet, you better learn it now. This is the language of the internet, the very foundation upon which millions of websites rest. Without HTML, it would be difficult indeed to create and view websites the way we do today. Thanks to this language, we can read text the way we would from a book, navigate the world wide web without losing our way due to too many codes and even convert a simple link to a whole new webpage. You don?t have to be an expert at it ? just make sure you know basic HTML. That way, you'll understand how tiny changes in the letters and symbols that make up a code can make a huge difference in how a web page appears. Know your search engines. Search engines rank websites differently so you might want to know their methods if you want to adjust your site's structure accordingly. Google, still the most popular search engine in use today, uses 'spiders' that 'crawl' into a website to check for keyword relevance and density. Google also ranks sites according to the number (and quality) of other sites that are linked to it. There are also search engines that use spiders exclusively, which categorize websites depending on what they find. Some search engines use actual manpower (that's real humans, folks) to rank sites while others, such as pay-for-placement-sites, will work on your ranking based on what you'll pay them. Take a look at your meta-title. Most search engines rank websites depending on their headings. Make sure that your meta-title includes your main keywords. Search engines love website headings that point directly to the site. It's like someone putting up a sign that says, 'Doctor who handles eyes, ears, nose and throat problems' instead of just 'Doctor.' Don?t use dynamic URLs. Dynamic URLs use HTTP GET variables. When search engines send out their spiders to look for websites to assess, they tend to avoid or ignore those sites with this type of URL. Use URLs that contain your keywords instead. It's also a good idea to use keywords for your directories and files because your keyword density increases. You will also appear more frequently in search engines should someone use your keywords to look for something. Learn to compare. Imitation is the greatest flattery so other websites won't mind if you check them out in order to improve your own site. Try to compare your site with another website in the same category or subject. Click the 'View' button on the browser to view the source code. If you understand HTML by now, you'll see why this website rocks the search engines and why yours doesn?t. Using HTML in a way that search engines love can be complicated for some people. To make sure you're not left scratching your head, learn more. Use a reference such as 'On Page SEO', a Barking Videos presentation that teaches newbies and experienced website owners the art of manipulating HTML codes in your web pages in order to produce a more relevant website. Don?t let the concept intimidate you because once you understand the basics of this language, your website will be on its way to becoming a star that search engines will readily recognize. |