What You Didn't Know About SEO - From DesignerNetwork.net

There's much talk about search engine optimization, and much complaining about the damage that the recent Google update did to such-and-such a website. Some simple, little-known methods can give your website a solid footing in search engine results. This post originally appeared in Designer Network.

Keywords

Everyone knows that keywords contribute to your Search Engine Result Page (SERP) rankings, but did you know that balance can trump quantity?
How do I know? I have ranked pages in the top 10 of Google with no actual text information, just by balancing keywords. These pages have since been impervious to the infamous Jagger update.

What you should do: Weave your keywords throughout each page carefully. Stick to one keyword or keyword phrase per page. Don’t forget to mention your chosen target phrase in each of the following places - once in the title, once I a first level heading, once in one or more sub-headings, once in a meta description, once in the meta keywords, once in an internal link, once in an outgoing link, once in your breadcrumbs and sprinkled naturally throughout the text. Don't forget about alt attributes! Use bold and italics on your keywords for easy reading, emphasis as well as SEO.

Structure

You’ve heard somewhere that appropriate website structure helps search engines spider your page properly, but have you heard that page structure itself can influence SERP rankings?

How do I know? After following my own advice, my website, which used to rank for nothing, now ranks for several big money terms and I have gone from getting no leads from my website to getting several leads per week.

What you should do: Use either CSS or tables to get your content area to the top of your code. Do a search for "source ordered columns" if you don't know what I mean. Make sure to use headings and subheadings to break up your text for clarity and easy reading as well as SEO. Use bold and italics for emphasis. Create your menu items to read like complete thoughts. Instead of “Services