The ALT="" Command:

Associated with graphics or pictures on your site the ALT command is a written description of what is being seen by users. A picture may be worth a thousand words to humans but to blind search engine spiders they are ignored unless you have used the ALT command placing a description within the quotes. Make sure that the picture and the ALT description complements the content on your web page. It helps with site ranking. This command is also intended to assist the blind who use text to voice readers when using the Internet. They can't see your picture. If you haven't put in a description they won't know what to visualize that complements your content. So make sure you use those ALT commands on all of your graphics and pictures all of the time. The same goes for the TITLE="" command which is used for <a href= links. And yes, you can combine both the ALT and the TITLE command when you have a picture that links somewhere else.

Bolding Lines Or Words:

The bold command <b>< /b> is used within the content of your site (much like the <H#> command previously mentioned) to draw the reader's attention to sub-topics or important information. Search engine spiders recognize this and once again will place special emphasis on the content located between the start and end of the command because it only makes sense that the content is of some import. Bolding all of your content however will not be helpful at all. Again the bold command is much like the H# command. Use it sparingly to hammer home to readers and spiders information that the rest of your page content supports.

Shadow Back Linking To Search Engines:

Although debatable on effectiveness this writer has found that search engines like being linked to (much like everyone else) somewhere on your site. However that may not be conducive to what you are presenting on the page. To get around this use shadow linking on the search engine name and link.

E.g. assume for the moment you have a white background on your front page. Somewhere down at the bottom of the page use a light grey colour for the search engine links. List large engines such as Google, Yahoo, AltaVista, etc. That way your users will ignore the type, however the search engine spider will realize you have linked back to their search engine and that the name is visible.

A word of warning though: Do not make these links the same colour as your background colour. They'll become invisible to users if you do. Spiders know the background page colour. If it matches with their link they also know that it can't be seen. That puts you on the fast track to lower ratings and sometimes even search engine blacklisting. Use a slightly off-colour that doesn't interrupt your reader's concentration but still tells the spider the link can be seen.

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