The first tip is:
Semantic Markup
What is semantic markup? Well it's basically using existing HTML elements to mark up or style your web pages in a way that makes sense to both users and search engines so that the meaning of the content is the same no matter what method the content is being accessed by (different browsers, mobile phones, interactive tv, games consoles, etc). Take the heading above for example (the bit that says "Semantic Markup" in big letters). In old fashioned print terms that's a "headline", so on the web you should use your headline elements (H1, H2, H3, etc). As it's our first headline in this item it's marked up with an H1 element. As you work your way down the page you would use the other headline elements to define the headings in descending order of significance. Search engines can read these elements and see what is the most important part of the page by it's corresponding tag. Similarly the use of other tags or elements such as
<address>, <abbr> and <acronym> all give clues to search engines about the content contained within the tags, in this case an address, an abbreviation (such as F.B.I.) or an acronym (such as SEO). Lists should be displayed using the Unordered List or Ordered List elements, for example:This list was created by simply typing in the numbers
1) This is a fake list item
2) This is also a fake list item
This list was created using an <ol> element
- This is a real list item
- This is also a real list item
No only is the second list easier for search engines to understand it's easier for humans too, not only to read but to create as the numbers appear automatically!
So make it easy for the search engines and humans and use semantic markup.
For more information visit this page on Future Media Standards and Guidelines from the BBC.
