Table Structures For Top Search Engine Positioning

So you have a beautiful website that you paid a pretty penny for and
you are completely happy with it … except no one can find it.
Many web designers do not understand search engine positioning, so when
they design your website little or no thought is given to the
elements of design that may affect your rankings on search engines.
On the other hand some search engine positioning companies offer
services that will boost your rankings but at the expense of your
design. A good search engine positioning company can get your website
ranking for key phrases without affecting the overall design and
navigation of your site. You can make small changes to your website
on your own as well utilizing the tips noted in this article. There
is a happy medium, you can "have your cake and eat it too."

The first step in designing a website that will rank well on search
engines is to build the proper table structure. This framework for
your website will easily guide the search engine spiders through your
site taking the route you want them to. A good table structure is
essentially a map to the spiders, it guides the way as they travel
through your website.

http://www.beanstalk-inc.com/articles/images/spider-


This table structure is very beneficial to your website ranking as it
guides the spiders to the text rich, most important content of your
site as quickly as possible. The spiders will enter your site at the
first table, the header, and then travel through to the empty cell in
row 1 of the second table, the next stop is your content area,
the "meat" of your website. After going through your content
the
spiders will then continue onto row 2 where you have inserted a table
holding your navigation, if your navigation is image based, as most
is, it holds very little content that matters from the spider's
perspective. The spiders will then follow through to row 3 where you
have your footer, a place to add in valuable text links rich in
targeted keywords.

If this table structure does not fit your design at all there can be
work arounds. A good example of this is shown on http://www.far-
sited.ca. Notice that the index page upon load has a very simple
look, no text, clean, crisp image. This is a good way to present your
business with a simple entry page. If you scroll down the page you
will see that there is in fact a lot of text below this main image.
With a simple 100% x 100% table you can achieve this affect on your
website. This table will open the same way in all resolutions giving
your index page the look of a text free page when in fact it is not.

100% x 100% table used as mentioned above:

<img src="http://www.beanstalk-inc.com/articles/images/100x100.jpg">

If you choose to use the 100% x 100% table noted above you should
still try to stick to the general table structure shown first for
your internal pages. There can always be room for adjustments based
on the size of your site however most websites use left hand
navigation and this table structure is based on left hand navigation.
If your navigation is across the top of your page, maybe reconsider
it. It can remain at the top, I have designed a few websites that are
ranking well with this top navigation, but for the best result, the
left hand navigation using the table structure first mentioned in
this article is best.

All in all I cannot stress enough that a well designed site will rank
higher. Even if you do not have a complete SEO overhaul of your site
this table structure will increase your rankings over those that do
not have a clean, properly structured website. Though the table
structure is not noticed so much by the visitors to your website
aside from the look of it, it is very noticed by the spiders and they
will go through your website based on it. For an added edge, have
your site designed with this table structure, or do it yourself. Make
a point of not only giving the visitors to your website the
information you want them to have but also the spiders and as quickly
and easily as possible.

Mary Davies is the search engine friendly design expert for Beanstalk
Search Engine Positioning. She works and writes with years of
experience in web design and search engine optimization.