curly_clare - 11:40 am on Oct 23, 2003 (gmt 0)

Hi,

I thought its about time I contributed something useful to this forum. Having researched the current best SEO practices (shocked at the lack of resources out there!) I submit my findings. As far as I know this is up to date information, please feel free to put me right if this is not the case.

Also, if anyone knows of a single resource that reports this informtion on a regular basis please let me know. (may be worht me setting up that resource actually)

SEO Best Practices as of 23/10/03:

Title:

* Length - 70 characters (inc. spaces)
* Consider alphabetical priority
* Must contain keyword

Description Tag:

* 150 character limit
* Do not repeat keywords more than 3 times
* Place most common keywords towards the deginning of the description.

Keyword Tag:

* Maxiumum 200 charcters
* Do not use comma's
* Place most common keywords first
* If possible, consider alphabetical priority
* Do not repeat KW's more than 3 times

Body Tag:

* KW density should be between 3-10%
* KW proximity - place KW close to each other
* KW prominence - position KW's as near to the beginning of the content as possible and use KW's as headings
* The first 150 words should explain what the page is about.
* Include a KW in all text links if possible
* Keep body of the text in one or two solid blocks rahter than spreading the text arouund the page.
* Use KW's in Alt tags
* Do not overload the page with different topics, keep each page dedicated to a certain topic.

Thats the basics, please feel free to dispute my findings!

Take Care.