SEO friendly HTML

To me, the most important part of Search Engine Optimisation is keeping code tidy. Which is a simple concept, but not always practised as well as it could be.

Keeping code to a minimum can be done by using the right HTML for the job, for example using lists for navigation instead of using tables. Making sure your page is developed with good Cascading Style Sheets and not table layouts. If anything, this helps with loading time and it makes keeping the site up to date a whole lot easier.

By using optimised HTML you can improve the code to content ratio which should hopefully be a good three times more content than code.

Headings are a great way to tell the search engines what your page is about, if you use a good structure of a H1 tag followed by H2 or bold tags the spiders can see exactly what your page is focused on, this also applies for the user.

When it comes to images it’s important to use the ALT attribute. ALT attributes were developed to use in case the image wasn’t found. The text in the ALT attribute would be used to replace the image, but are now used by screen readers for the visually impaired, text based browsers and search engines.

Hyperlinks are a huge factor in good on page Search Engine Optimisation. Using links effectively can make or break your site. A few tips for good linking would be using the title attribute; I normally use this to back up the anchor text content. But obviously the most important part of a hyper link is the anchor text. If your link text just says “Click here” or “Read more” you are missing out. Try to keep your anchor text as you would a page title, clear and to the topic.

Adrian Mursec - SEO Programmer

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