Search Engine Optimization Bible, Second Edition

Chapter 12. Tagging Your Web Site

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Why site tagging is important

• How site tagging works

• Additional HTML tags

• Advanced tag structure

• Using redirect pages

You may remember from Chapters 4 and 7 that we covered some of the HTML tags most commonly used in SEO. These include title tags, heading tags, body tags, meta tags, and the alt tag. No web site should be without those tags in the HTML that makes up the site. However, those tags aren't the only ones that you should understand.

There are several others you might find useful. In fact, a basic understanding of HTML is nearly essential for achieving the best SEO possible for your web site. Sure, you can build a web site using some kind of web-design software such as Expression Web or Adobe Dreamweaver, but those programs won't necessarily ensure that all the essential HTML tags are included in your site, or if they are included that they are accurate and useful. It's far better if you know at least enough HTML to understand where your HTML tags are placed and how to put them there without trashing the design of the site.

Another important aspect to tagging your web site is using the right strategies to ensure that the tags are as effective as possible. For example, some HTML tags are strictly for formatting (such as the <bold> tag), but formatting a word with <bold> doesn't tell the search engine that the word is important. Using a more appropriate HTML tag (such as <strong>) works much better.

These are all elements of site tagging ...