This document is intended to be only a general guide to the best use of html "meta" and other tags for the purpose of ensuring proper indexing by search engine auto spider/crawler software.

It should be read in parallel to any appropriate documentation on standards for disability access and other standards documentation such as WC3.

A content rich site that is easy to access and use, is the best starting point for a site with content that will be found easily when using search engines

There is no point optimising a site while at the same time rendering the site difficult to use. Features that make it easy to find information in - and to navigate around - a web site also make it easier to search.

Use meta tags and other indexing features to describe the content of each individual page and section of a site, and do not repeat the same indexing information throughout.

Keep descriptions brief and to the point and make good use of key words and phrases.

Remember that search engines read an html page or equivalent as a single character string, and limit the number of characters that will be read. For this reason it is best to avoid too much program code appearing at the top of the page.

Most search engine algorithms define keywords that appear earlier in the string as being more significant than those that appear later.