SEO: Search Engine Optimization Bible

Chapter 11. Tagging Your Web Site

IN THIS CHAPTER

• What's so important about site tagging?

• How does site tagging work?

• Additional HTML tags

• Creating SEO optimized 302 direct pages

• Creating SEO optimized 404 error pages

You may remember that back in Chapters 3 and 6 we covered some of the HTML tags most commonly used in SEO. These included 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 know.

In addition, 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 like Microsoft FrontPage or Adobe Dreamweaver. However, those programs won't necessarily ensure that all the essential HTML tags are included in your site. It's far better if you know enough HTML to understand where your HTML tags go, and how to put them there without trashing the design of the site.

There's also another aspect to tagging your web site, and that's using the right strategies to ensure the tags are as effective as possible. For example, some HTML tags are strictly for formatting (like 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 (like <strong>) works much better.

These are all elements of site tagging ...