B
broadband-engine
- Original Poster
- #1
Hi
Recently come across this technique and thought it was worth sharing, basically it allows you to perform a 'table trick' putting your content to the top of the page, and your menu to the bottom of the page without the on-page look changing... read on...
Web site Architecture
[this is brought to you courtesy of www.bruceclay.com/SEO-tech-tips/techtips.htm]
Tables are causing long navigation lists to be seen as the first content
Your site is developed in "tables" and by the time the search engines encounter your "main content" it is too far down the page for the spider to consider it important. Generally the text at the top of the page is the more important text, and sometimes site design pushes the main body content hundreds of lines from the top of the page source file.
A normal web page usually has a header, a nav bar that is usually on the left side of the page, and the main content is on the right. The search engines usually look at many page attributes, i.e., title, description, and at least the first 200 words of your content after your opening <body> tag. The engines do spider your whole page but if your nav bar lists many products, the search engine may not encounter your main body within the first 200 words.
How to correct this problem.
This technique known as the "table trick".
Most of the search engines will read a table a certain way. They will find the opening <table> tag and look for the first "table row" <tr>. They will begin to read each "data set" <td>"data"</td> inside the "table row" from left to right until they find the closing </tr> tag. They will try to keep going until they find the closing </table> tag. They will continue until they have crawled the entire page. Your "main body content" is usually where you would have most of your keyword phrases and the "relevant" body copy that you would want the search engine to index. Knowing that the spider will often try to figure out your "theme" within the first 200 words of your site you would want them to see the relevant text as soon as possible. The table technique will "push" your left-side navigation (etcetera) bar down below your body content and "pull" up your body content so it will usually be within the first 200 words.
Code to copy and paste
the above looks like this http://www.bruceclay.com/SEO-tech-tips/table-technique-yes.htm
If you are building a site from scratch this technique is well worth working into your design.
All the Best, and Happy New Year to All
Phil
Recently come across this technique and thought it was worth sharing, basically it allows you to perform a 'table trick' putting your content to the top of the page, and your menu to the bottom of the page without the on-page look changing... read on...
Web site Architecture
[this is brought to you courtesy of www.bruceclay.com/SEO-tech-tips/techtips.htm]
Tables are causing long navigation lists to be seen as the first content
Your site is developed in "tables" and by the time the search engines encounter your "main content" it is too far down the page for the spider to consider it important. Generally the text at the top of the page is the more important text, and sometimes site design pushes the main body content hundreds of lines from the top of the page source file.
A normal web page usually has a header, a nav bar that is usually on the left side of the page, and the main content is on the right. The search engines usually look at many page attributes, i.e., title, description, and at least the first 200 words of your content after your opening <body> tag. The engines do spider your whole page but if your nav bar lists many products, the search engine may not encounter your main body within the first 200 words.
How to correct this problem.
This technique known as the "table trick".
Most of the search engines will read a table a certain way. They will find the opening <table> tag and look for the first "table row" <tr>. They will begin to read each "data set" <td>"data"</td> inside the "table row" from left to right until they find the closing </tr> tag. They will try to keep going until they find the closing </table> tag. They will continue until they have crawled the entire page. Your "main body content" is usually where you would have most of your keyword phrases and the "relevant" body copy that you would want the search engine to index. Knowing that the spider will often try to figure out your "theme" within the first 200 words of your site you would want them to see the relevant text as soon as possible. The table technique will "push" your left-side navigation (etcetera) bar down below your body content and "pull" up your body content so it will usually be within the first 200 words.
Code to copy and paste
the above looks like this http://www.bruceclay.com/SEO-tech-tips/table-technique-yes.htm
If you are building a site from scratch this technique is well worth working into your design.
All the Best, and Happy New Year to All
Phil
