Best Keyword Locations For Search Engines
Filed in: Web Development — May 28th, 2004
Read How keywords impact search engine rankings | Builder.com, and here is the snip:
Most search engines give a keyword more or less weight based on its location. The weighting algorithms vary at different search engines, and the details of those algorithms are closely guarded secrets. The following list puts the possible keyword locations in approximate order from highest to lowest priority.
- Domain name
- Page title
- Headings (enclosed within h1, h2, h3 tags)
- Body text—The first 2 to 3 KB usually counts more than the rest of the text (if the search engine scans more than that).
- Meta tags—Keywords appearing in the description meta tag still seem to count, as do keywords in some of the Dublin Core meta tags. Some search engines don’t ignore the keyword meta tag completely but, rather, discount it heavily—especially if the keyword doesn’t appear elsewhere on the page.
- Links—Even keywords buried in the URL, name, or id attributes of a link count in page ranking
- Alt text—Keywords in alt text attributes count toward page ranking. This is yet another reason to take the time to create meaningful alt text for all images.
Thought:
Perhaps it is time to tweak your website for search engines according to the keyword locations above? 
