Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are the foremost drivers for the styling of web pages. They ensure that the uniformity of design is implemented in a seamless manner. However, they also compile a lot of code placed on the top of your page while increasing the size of the source file. Applying external CSS files will ensure that you have a clean and compact code friendly to search engine spiders.

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The title tag is the topmost text that appears on your browser. Displayed on the top of a browser window, this is also the text that will appear as links in the search listings. Unlike other parts of your web page, the title tag is indexed by all search engines. You must place effective keywords in your title tag to improve your pages’ SEO. Google will only display the first 64 characters of your title although MSN and Yahoo have a limit of 74 characters and 110 characters respectively. Thus, you have only that amount of text to make a compelling title. Your title must not only grab attention of engine spiders but also of readers since this is the first line that they will read when they see your search result.

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There are many tags associated with the HTML header. Since this is the part of the code that is not directly rendered by the browser, coders tend to be sloppy with this part. However, this section contributes greatly to the viability of your webpage in terms of SEO.

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File naming conventions refers to a developer's preference in naming web pages and the files related to these pages. A page's file name is the first element that search engine spiders will look at, so it is important that you place high ranking keywords to your file name. You should place effective file names early into the project because once a search engine has indexed your page, it is not advised to change file names. The file names should not only associate high ranking keywords, but should also tell something on the specific content of your web page.

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Among the critical elements of SEO is the compliance of programming languages to the standards set by various bodies. These organizations draw web standards to ensure that web documents follow a flexible layout and rules that will contribute to overall quality of web pages. HTML and XML-derived validation is handled by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Validation checking works like a spell-check or grammar-check for programmers. HTML validation is a rigid process since the code was created with a specific platform in mind - in this case, internet browsers.

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