Now, let's go back to source code. Look for this tag, which isn't far from tag:

This is image, or graphics, tag for Search Engine Workshops banner that appears at very top of page. Notice that engine doesn't "see" graphic itself. It sees name of graphic (banner3.jpg), and it sees ALT text that describes image. It sees width and height of graphic. But, it doesn't see graphic itself. So, engine doesn't know that graphic says, "Search Engine Workshops."

Next, look for this tag, which directly follows image tag:

Search Engine Seminars

An

tag is a heading tag, and heading tags are very important to a Web page. Try to put a heading tag at very top of your page, if at all possible, and use your important keyword phrase in that heading tag. When you look back at my actual Web page, do you see words "Search Engine Seminars" right under graphic? That's heading tag.

Now, look for this tag in source code:

Is your Web site achieving success that . . .

This is where contents of Web page begin. Look on actual Web page and find text: "Is your Web site achieving success that . . ." Notice that keyword phrase (search engine seminars) appears in first paragraph.

In other words, with all of these tags and placement of our keyword phrase in page's contents, we're proving to engines that page is really about "search engine seminars."

So, let's visit your site on Web. View source code. What's in section? Are your title and description tags using keyword phrase that's important for that particular page? Are your title and description tags captivating and designed to pull in traffic? Each page of your site should have different title and description tags, and those tags should be based on focus of that page - what that page is really about: in other words, its keyword phrase.

How many graphics do you have before actual contents of your site? If you have a lot of graphics, navigation bars, or buttons before contents of your page, engine has to sort through all of that source code before it gets to actual keyword- containing content.

Does your page contain lengthy JavaScript or other code that pushes important contents toward bottom of page? If so, it could be hindering your chances at top rankings.

Are you using a heading tag that contains your important keyword phrase toward very top of your page? Is your keyword phrase used in first paragraph of page? Is it used in several places throughout page?

Look back at my page. Notice that keyword phrase, search engine seminars, is used as link text to describe several links. Are you using your keyword phrase to describe links that are leaving page? If not, try to do so.

Study your own site carefully, and apply these guidelines to your pages.

Doing whatever you can to push your important keyword phrase toward top of page and toward beginning of your tags is first step toward having a successful Web site that's ranked in top of search engine rankings.

If you would like to learn more about how to achieve top search engine rankings, visit: http://www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles.html

Or, sign up for online training at: http://www.onlinewebtraining.com/courses.html or 3-day search engine marketing workshops at: http://www.searchengineworkshops.com.

Robin Nobles, Director of Training, Academy of Web Specialists, has trained several thousand people in her online search engine marketing (http://www.academywebspecialists.com) training programs. She also teaches 3-day hands-on search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe with Search Engine Workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com).

The second thing to do is to Put your important text near top of page. Suppose you have put your company's logo (Acme Widgets) at top of page, as a gif or jpg image. Underneath it you might put some text reading: "California's first producer of Electronic Widgets". If California and Electronic Widgets are important keywords for you then you have started off your page very well. In fact, some search engines use first paragraph or phrase as description that is shown in search results. So if first paragraph or first phrase really says a lot and is attractive it may entice someone to visit your page. (Getting a top result in a search engine is one thing, but remember someone has to think that your page is interesting enough to visit if they are going to click on it, and description shown by search engine may be deciding factor determining whether they click through to your page or to your competitor's page)

But, what is top of page? It seems obvious but search engines do not see or rather, read pages in same way that our eye sees page. Recently I built a web site for someone and then looked at first search engine results for that site. I saw words "Choose your language" as description. (The search engine took a phrase from navigation bar on left hand side of page, where surfers were invited to choose which language version of site they wanted to see). This happened because search engines have to go through table structure of site. In order to align different elements (text and pictures) of a site, designers often divide page into tables. If a site is divided into two vertical tables, one for left hand navigation and one for body. The spider will first read everything in table on left before going to table on right. I corrected this problem by putting a pithy, keyword laden descriptive phrase in left hand column just above navigation elements. So, make sure that your important phrases are in places where spider will see them before they reach other less important phrases. If table structure on your page is not giving right picture to spider, then you should make necessary modifications to correct problem.

© Copyright 2002, Donald Nelson, all rights reserved.