What’s At The Top Of Your Page?

A problem I have noticed with web pages that use tables for layout control (including my own sites) is the primary text for the page is usually not near the top of the HTML page. This seems to confuse most crawlers and spiders because they look for relevant text starting at the top of the HTML page. So, if you have text near the top of the page that isn’t important to your page contents that text may show up as the part of the description for that page. If you have such remarks as author and posted date above your <H1> header, that text will be included in the page’s description instead of the carefully written <H1> header and the first sentence of your first paragraph.

My research suggests that the best table layout would be to place any information not absolutely necessary to your page's description toward the bottom of the page. This logic also suggests that placing navigation on the right side instead of the left may not be a bad idea. Also, I suggest you consider using external JavaScript and CSS files instead of on-page JavaScript and CSS. Definitely do not use in-line styles except for minor and rarely used formatting.

NOTE:
Words In A Row has some good tips and tricks on placing your text in the top portion of your code page when using tables. I found this site after writing this article and it confirms my ideas and suggestions.

All crawlers and spiders differentiate between links and non-link text. Therefore, if you only have links near the top of the page, the links will not be included as part of your page description but may cause other problems. (See www.wordsinarow.com) However, if you have text that categorizes your links, that text may become part of the page’s description.

Your page should be designed for the viewer but you should keep in mind how search engines will see the page. Design for the viewer and once your page is listed, review its search engine description. If it isn’t clear or has unnecessary or non-relevant words in the description, determine where those words come from on your page. Now you can modify the page layout to place your most relevant text so it becomes the page’s description. Just don’t expect the change to happen quickly. Most engines will update the page after they detect the page has changed. Unless you are willing to pay for inclusion, practice patience and use other methods to advertise your site.