A simple ‘How To’ reference chart of the Basic HTML for search engine optimization. Use the following codes around keywords to get better search engine rankings.

To the average internet user the question, “How To Do Basic HTML?” is one they never want to ask. However knowing some basic HTML - or at least bookmarking this page as reference for when you need it - will give you the advantage you are looking for.

How will HTML Help?

Formatting a keyword - you want to get ranked in a search engine for - will boost your rankings, but don’t let this win over Good Writing, Content Quality and Readability. Spamming will quickly reduce your visitors and rankings, so use the formatting as it was intended.

Bold

How to properly format your keywords in bold.

Bold formatting is meant to emphasis an important word, phrase or sentence. Overusing bold can weaken its effect and confuse the reader. Most of your visitors will Skim over your text, use bold to direct their attention to the most important sentences and phrases. Italics was once the most common way to emphasis, although bold has become more popular on the internet it is still an acceptable way to emphasis certain text (just be consistent). Don’t use bold to markup a heading, use H1,2,3,4 Headers for those.

H1 Headers

How to format your keywords in H1 Headers correctly.

Headers are best used to break up your text into sections, you then give these sections and sub-sections labels or titles that describe what is contained within them. For search engine optimization it is important not to use H1 Headers on their own, they are meant to be used in conjunction with H2 sub-headers. This allows the reader to jump to the most relevant sections quickly. Don’t make your Headers to short, weave in some stop words (the, a, for, is …etc) with your targeted keywords to create short accurate descriptions.

Link Anchor Text

How to use keywords in links correctly.

The anchor text in front of your outbound links should be relevant to both the page they are linking from and the page they are linking to. If you are need to link to an article on your own site that is in a different category, link to its parent category page rather than the article itself (keep your themes isolated and highly relevant). The anchor text should accurately indicate where the link leads too.

Image Name

How to use your keywords in image names correctly.

Image names are meant to label an image correctly, placing your keywords in the image name should only be done if it matches the image subject. Use lower case and hyphens to separate the words (eg image-name.jpg). One way to ensure the relevance of your image name is to have your keyword in the site name, then label your images site-name-pic001.jpg (keeping your keywords towards the front).

Image Alt Tags

How to use your keywords in alt tags correctly.

Alt Tags are there for people that can not see your images. They may have images turned off for faster loading or using a text reader due to vision impairment or blindness. In Internet Explorer the alt tag appears when your mouse hovers over the image. Alt tags should be an accurate description of the image, it will appear in place of an unseen image and may prompt the reader to then load that image. Only use your keywords in the alt tags if they are relevant to the image description.

How To Do Basic HTML?

HTML Tags	Code	Description	Example HTML Code	Example Result
b	<b>	BoldText	Place the keyphrase <b>how to do basic html</b> in bold	Place the keyphrase how to do basic html in bold
h1	<h1>	Defines Header 1	Render the keyphrase <h1>how to do basic html</h1> as Header 1	Render the keyphrase how to do basic html as Header 1
h2	<h2>	Defines Header 2	Render the keyphrase <h2>how to do basic html</h2> as Header 2	Render the keyphrase how to do basic html as Header 2
h3	<h3>	Defines Header 3	Render the keyphrase <h3>how to do basic html</h3> as Header 3	Render the keyphrase how to do basic html as Header 3
a	<a>	The enclosed text becomes a hyperlink to another webpage	The keyphrase <a href=“http://www.1to1million.com”>how to do basic HTML</a> becomes a hyperlink	The keyphrase how to do basic HTML becomes a hyperlink
a	href=” “	Target URL of the Link	The link <a href=“http://www.1to1million.com”target=“_self”> how to do basic HTML</a> opens in the same window	The link how to do basic HTML opens in the same windowk
a	target=” “	Where the link opens	The link <a href=“http://www.1to1million.com”target=“_blank”> how to do basic HTML</a> opens in a new window	The link how to do basic HTML opens in a new window
img	<img>	Inserts an Image	<img src=“http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif”/> use your keywords in the image name
img	alt=” “	Alternative Text	<img src=“http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif”alt=“Use your keywords here”/> alt defines the mouseover text or alternative text when the image wont load	alt defines the mouseover text or alternative text when the image wont load