CS006: Introduction to the World Wide Web



Search engine optimization

In this lab, we will optimize your web page for search engines.

1) The main way to do this is by getting links from other webpages. Add at least two links to friends in your lab section, and get at least two links from other people to your webpage.

2) Next, let's include some meta tags that describe the content of your site in a way that machines can read. Meta tags go inside the <head> tags. 

Examples:
<meta name="description" content="Free Web tutorials on HTML, CSS, XML, and XHTML">   Is sometimes used as the text that shows up beneath your webpage in search engine results.

<meta name="keywords" content="HTML, DHTML, CSS, XML, XHTML, JavaScript, VBScript">  Not heavily used by search engines these days, but it can't hurt. 

<meta name="revised" content="Jill Brady, 6/10/99">

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5">  Refreshed page every five seconds- only useful of course if you have frequently updated content, like perhaps news sites or a non-javascript clock, or a on-site forum.

<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOINDEX,FOLLOW"> search engine spiders may follow the links from the page, but may not record the page in their database.

<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Language" CONTENT="en-GB"> Says that the page is written in English... more specifically, Great Britain (GB) English.

And there are meta tags for many, many other things.

Also, try to view some other websites' meta tags and try to incorporate it into your own website!


3) Do use a <title> inside your <head> tag. Use your keywords in your webpage (but don't repeat them like 'Apples Apples Apples Apples Apples' - Search Engines approve of good orginization, disapprove of attempts at 'cheating'. Use Headlines to distinguish the sections of your page. Use comments in your page, and include keywords in your comments.

4) Last, we'll add a facebook like button. You can follow the instructions on this page: http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/04/adding-facebook-like-buttons-to-your-site-is-damn-easy/. Now like your page and share it with your friends. See how many likes you can collect!