ONLINE MARKETING > SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING > SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Table Tags YOU ARE HERE!

TABLE TAGS: CAPTION & SUMMARY ATTRIBUTE

As already mentioned, the purpose of the BODY element of a HTML document is to define the actual visible document's content. BODY tag - Visible Copy - Body Text is considered essential for search engine optimization /marketing and targeted traffic.

Tables are defined with the TABLE tag. A table is divided into rows with the TR tag, and rows are divided into data cells with the TD tag. A data cell can contain text, images, lists, paragraphs, forms, horizontal rules, tables, etc.

Each table may have an associated CAPTION element that provides a short description of the table's purpose:

<Caption>WORDTRACKER DATABASE STATISTICS:</Caption>

The Caption element is only permitted immediately after the TABLE start tag. A TABLE element may only contain one Caption element (exemple in the table below).

Captions are often inadequate from the perspective of people relying on non-visual user agents. A longer description with additional information may also be provided via the Summary attribute of the TABLE element, for the benefit of people using speech or Braille-based user agents.

<table summary="This table gives some statistics
about often used SEO keyphrases: the number of pages competing, and the
number of searches per day on Google.">
<Caption>WordTracker Database Keyphrases Statistics:</Caption>
<tr><td>
...
</td></tr>
</table>

Beside it's obvious benefits to people using speech or Braille-based user agents, the table Summary tag is readable by the search engine spiders.

This BODY tag, if optimized with targeted phrases, might have some impact on achieving higher search engine rankings. Note that SEO experts consider the importance and weight of the Summary tag as minimal if any. Positive usability impact is well documented, so it should be used in any case.

OTHER AREAS USED FOR SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

There are also some other areas that search engine spiders look up while indexing your website, which are also reviewed by the editors of various directories:

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

Keyword reach domain names (website address) are often the part of the overall search engine optimization / marketing campaign, and some surveys show it is helpful to the users, as easier to remember if relevant to the website content.

http://seo-tutorial.distinctia.com

File Names & Directory Names

The same concept could be applied to File Names & Directory Names, which might also be keyword rich and relevant to the website content:

meta-tags-tutorial.html
meta-tags-tutorial/title-tags.html

Note that hyphens or underscores are commonly used to separate the words in URL as well as File and Directory Names on your website.

Although the key to effective search engine optimization / marketing is optimizing your BODY section content, optimizing META tags is also important. META Tags Tutorial >>

User Oriented Design & Ethical Website Marketing Strategies by Distinctia, 2006