The 10 Biggest Search Engine Optimization Mistakes: #5: No 'H1 Tags'
H1 Tags were originally introduced to aid the formatting of HTML documents. They literally mean ??Heading Size 1?? which is generally the biggest sized font used online. However, because their presence indicate a page heading with larger text, many search engines have decided to count this as a significant part of the ranking that deems what the page content is about. It is therefore recommended to feature your main keyword phrase for that page in the heading.
Why text based image headings are bad
However, when web pages became more creative, many website owners started to dislike the look and feel of large, plain text. Instead they used text images. Although images are nearly guaranteed to display the same on ever computer while the display of text is dependent on an individual computer??s settings, text is a lot friendlier for search engines.
Apart from ??Alt Tags?? and the image file name, images contain no definitive data about what they contain. File names and Alt Tags can be manipulated to indicate that the content they contain may be something other than that which is actually featured.
This means that search engines may always be wary of images as a method of displaying a page title. The ??content?? of text can never be hidden. Some search engines have therefore deemed that text based headings are more likely to feature information on their pages that is relevant to a web search made. All things being equal, web pages that contain text-based headings are therefore more likely to appear higher in search engines compared with websites of a similar nature and popularity that rely on image based headings.
Don??t just use size attributes
Many page titles, although text-based still don??t maximise their appeal to search engines because they only use ??size attributes??. As in the following example, the text will appear large and in bold ?C as if it were a page title, but it wouldn??t carry as much weight with search engines as pages that contain the heading attribute.
Example 1: Business Articles
In the second example that follows, the HTML will display the text in exactly the same look and size. This example however does contain the heading attribute, and all things being equal will be more popular with many search engines.
Example 2:
Business Articles
So what can be learned from the above examples?
Websites shouldn??t be designed just for their look and feel. Equally they shouldn??t be designed just for search engines. In the two examples above, the different HTML code used in each example produces the same results.
Author: David Bain
Author Bio:
David Bain is a consultant to www.UteachRecruitment.com - a specialist teacher jobs recruitment agency. U Teach Recruitment is based in Coatbridge, Scotland and brings schools and teachers together from all over the UK. Teaching opportunities include English teaching jobs. Visit www.UteachRecruitment.com to search for teacher jobs today.
Affordable Website promotion & ranking services
Offers website promotion services, web site optimization and ranking services with guaranteed top 1 to 10 placements. Check out Online Testimonials for more details.
WebMonkDesign.com
Web Page & graphic design internet magic solutions for marketing promotion branding identity ecommerce graphic design search engine submissions ranking.
Make your own screen saver
ScreensaverMaker is a powerful tool to create and distribute screensaver for Windows, you create screensaver based on Shockwave Flash
Audio Recorder
Record sound to MP3 or WAV filesAudio Recorder software for recording sound streaming to MP3 or WAV files.
Microsoft Access Help Centre
Microsoft Access tips, support, training, development, corrupt file repair and discussion forum.
ScriptsToProfit.com
Offering quality free and affordable PHP/MySQL website scripts to make your online business more interactive.
