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I have always believed that to rank well, you must minimize the amount of javascript and tables in your page, and give Googlebot text content as high up on the page as possible.
Now that I am optimizing a client's site with a lot of tables for layout and javascript navigation, this isn't as easy as building a new site from scratch. :-)
My question is this: Is it worth the effort to redesing the page structure such that the text content as very close to the top of the HTML?
Google seems to place so much importance on Title tags, H Tags, and inbound links, I wonder if it's worth the trouble to rebuild all of these pages and move the content higher on each page.
The goal is to get high rankings. I am thinking that maybe this can be accomplished by focusing on optimizing the text content, and getting a lot of inbound text links that contain the desired keyword phrase. These seem to be the drivers of getting good rankings in Google. Do things like moving the text to the top of the HTML even matter anymore?
We were wiped off AV, lost a great ranking, due to incoporating a js menu at the top of each page. Partly because of that pain, we will probably never go back to having anything else than nice healthy text right at the top.
It shouldnt be hard to acheive by using external js and judicsious css/table placement.
I know that text at the top matters to other SEs like AV. The problem seems to be one of computing resources. Spiders like AV take whats at the top of the HTML as being what the page is about.
Google I believe indexes everything on the page. So does it matter whether the text is at the top or not? Does anyone know?
Your right that I can get the text to the top using external .js files and css to place the content. I am trying to avoid that if possible to save the client some money and time.
I can not think of any reason why text at the top should be more important than any other. So SE, please enlighten me.
Yes, we also have a lot of success with keywords high up on the page and in the body text.
What is on the page is less and less important as time goes by.
Google absolutely uses proximity in their algo.
As far as whether it matters compared to the rest of HTML - NON TEXT - I would say I am not sure, but my guess would be no.
Be careful how "well" you optimize your pages.
I would not redesign my pages in most cases. I well though out page will ALMOST ALWAYS beat out "perfect" optimization.
I remember what I learned when I was first learning about diamonds in a jewelry store:
The EASIEST way to tell if a diamond is fake under high magnification is flaws (inclusions in diamond speak). If you can see no flaws - most likely it is fake.
The trick is to still make a website look nice while using your choice keywords in a larger font near the top. Remember, a site full of content and large text might get hits - but will it bring you business? Hmmmm....
What do you see? Not only does the text at the top count, but text on the entire page counts. Of course an <h1> with your primary phrase is going to have more weight at the top of the page, but, don't focus all of your efforts there. Try to get a balance from top to bottom. Lightly sprinkle those keyword phrases throughout.
Remember the ole' days when you would see some of the butt ugliest pages holding top positions? You know why? If you looked at the source code, it would have been obvious. Those pages were void of all the design techniques we now have available to us through advances in browser support.
The core optimization strategies have not changed. You need to present the spider with your main content first and then all the other stuff later. The only way to do this is through a minimalist approach to design, one or two tables, or, utilize CSS and do what I refer to as Content Positioning. Start your <h1> right after the <body> tag!
