Search Optimization
Thus far in my experience with the web there has yet to be a time when I have sat down and said "I'm going to optimize this web page". I have however written a paper on the topic and given numerous recommendations to individuals both in formal groups settings, and through casually talking. I am not, however, just going to spill everything right here and now about what I know. Instead, I'd like to discuss things a bit.
Okay so this may be a rather one sided discussion, but thats appropriate. Many developers have a one sided relationship with search engines. "Your going to read this (because you have to) and (hopefully) your going to like it" they say. Markup goes in, and traffic comes out. The Markup part is what's missing from the current optimization equation.
Consider this piece of code taken from one of the hundreds of crappy housing websites ranking higher than mine on Google:
Close to Shopping
You can see that at its core this is a list item. An image is used to denote the list item bullet, and it is to say "Close to Shopping". What the author intended to say is simply:
But again, we're faced with a cross-roads. Google is going to do its best to index everything (and I do mean everything) on the internet. Same with every other search engine out there. Don't be fooled thinking that a couple of unclosed tags as in the above example will stop them. Their parsers are probably smarter at finding content than the average user is. Its really the same search paradox that I wrote about previously; either reward the well built sites, or rank purely on content. As of right now, I find that its all about content.