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There are aspects of the optimization process that gain and lose importance. Content

optimization is no exception to this. Through the many algorithm changes that take place each year, the weight given to the content on your pages rises and falls. Currently incoming links appear to supply greater advantage than well-written and optimized content.

While currently having a bunch of incoming links from high Page Rank sites will do well for you on Google you must consider what will happen to your rankings when the weight given to incoming links drops, or how your website fares on search engines other than Google that don't place the same emphasis on incoming links.

While there are many characteristics of your content that are in the algorithmic calculations, there are a few that consistently hold relatively high priority. These are:

1. Heading Tags

2. Special Text (bold, colored, etc.) 3. Inline Text Links or Anchor text 4. Keyword Density

Heading Tags

The heading tag is code used to specify to the visitor and to the search engines what the topic is of your page and/or subsections of it. You have 6 predefined heading tags to work with ranging from <H1> to <H6>.

By default these tags appear larger than standard text in a browser and are bold. These aspects can be adjusted using the font tags or by using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

Due to their abuse by unethical webmasters and SEO's, the weight given to heading tags is not what it could be however the content between these tags is given increased weight over

standard text. There are rules to follow with the use of heading tags that must be adhered to. If you use heading tags irresponsibly you run the risk of having your website penalized for spam even though the abuse may be unintentional.

• Never use the same tag twice on a single page • Try to be concise with your wording

• Use heading tags only when appropriate. If bold text will do then go that route • Don't use CSS to mask heading tags

Never use the same tag twice on a single page. While the <H1> tags holds the greatest weight of the entire heading tags, its purpose is to act as the primary heading of the page. If you use it twice you are obviously not using it to define the main topic of the page. If you need to use another heading tag use the <H2> tag. After that the <H3> tag and so on. Generally try never to use more than 2 heading tags on a page.

Try to be concise with your wording. If you have a 2 keyword phrase that you are trying to target and you make a heading that is10 words long then your keyword phrase only makes up about 20% of the total verbiage. If you have a 4-word heading on the other hand you would then have a 50% density and increased priority given to the keyword phrase you are targeting. Use heading tags only when appropriate. If bold text will do then go that route. If overused the weight of the tags themselves are reduced with decreasing content and "priority" being given to different phrases at various points in the content. If you have so much great content that you feel you need to use many heading tags you should consider dividing the content up into

multiple pages, each with its own tag and keyword target possibilities. For the most part, rather than using additional heading tags, bolding the content will suffice. The sizing will be kept the same as your usual text and it will stand out to the reader as part of the text but with added importance.

Don't use CSS to mask heading tags. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) serve many great

functions. They can be used to define how a site functions, looks and feels however they can also be used to mislead search engines and visitors alike. Each tag has a default look and feel. It is fine to use CSS to adjust this somewhat to fit how you want your site to look. However one should not adjust the look and feel to mislead search engines. It is a simple enough task to define in CSS that your heading should appear as regular text. Some unethical SEO's will also then place their style sheet in a folder that is hidden from the search engine spiders. This is secure enough until your competitors look at the cached copy of your page (and they

undoubtedly will at some point) see that you have hidden heading tags and report you to the search engines as spamming. It's an unnecessary risk that you need not take. Use your

Special Text (Optimization using Bold, Italics, Underlines etc.)

When a search engine is scanning page its looking for several factors to determine what is important and what is not. In particular, it looks for text tags such as bold, underline, italics etc to help rank the page.

The reason behind it is quite simple! As the text is formatted specially, search engines think that it is important for users. And hence it is important for Search Engines as well.

"Special text" is any content on your page that is set to stand out from the rest. This includes bold, underlined, colored, highlighted, sizing and italic. This text is given weight higher than standard content and rightfully so. Bold text, for example, is generally used to define sub- headings or to pull content out on a page to insure the visitor reads it. The same can be said for the other "special text" definitions.

Search engines have thus been programmed to read this as more important than the rest of the content and will give it increased weight. For example, on the homepage we begin the content in the bold text. This serves two purposes. The first is to draw the eye to these words and further reinforce the "brand". The second purpose is to add weight to the "Search Engine Positioning" portion of the name. It effectively does both.

Reread your content and, if appropriate for both visitors and search engines, use special text when it will help draw the eye to important information and also add weight to your

keywords. This does not mean that you should bold every instance of your targeted keywords nor does it mean that you should avoid using special text when it does not involve your

keywords. Common sense and a reasonable grasp of sales and marketing techniques should be your guide in establishing what should and should not be drawn out with "special text".

Inline Text Links (Anchor Text)

Inline text links are links added right into text in the verbiage of your content. For example I can link some text of this article to other articles for reference.

Like special text this serves two purposes. The first is to give the reader a quick and easy way to find the information you are referring to. The second purpose of this technique is to give added weight to this phrase for the page on which the link is located and also to give weight to the target page.

While this point is debatable, there is a relatively commonly held belief that inline text links are given more weight than a text link which stands alone. If we were to think like a search engine this makes sense. If the link occurs within the content area then chances are it is highly relevant to the content itself and the link should be counted with more strength than a link placed in a footer simply to get a spider through the site.

Like "special text" this should only be employed if it helps the visitor navigate your site. An additional benefit to inline text links is that you can help direct your visitors to the pages you want them on. Rather than simply relying on visitors to use your navigation bar as you are hoping they will, with inline text links you can link to the internal pages you are hoping they will get to such as your services page, or product details.