Design of website to maximise SEO

[magicfootball]

Does it make a difference to Google page rankings if a word that a user is searching for is in my nav bar on the left hand side of my page or at the bottom of my main content?

[ChrisEvans]

Makes no difference where information is on the page. Google just reads the text - it doesn't read the layout.

[magicfootball]

doesn't it make a difference if teh nav bar is Javascript or DHTML?

[ChrisEvans]

Google can't read Javascript.

DHTML - if the actual links are in HTML then it can read it.

[magicfootball]

perfect thank you

[David Bowley]

I also think that a keyword is classed as more relevant if it's near the top, ie the bot finds it first.

[KirstyM]

Good clean code will also help the keyword relevance of a web page.

The closer to the top of the page keywords are found in a coding sense also helps, as does keeping your page as clean and uncluttered as possible overall.

I'm told constructing your pages using layers is a great help, but it took me long enough to learn HTML, so I've not been able to try that one yet!

[ChrisEvans]

CSS is always good - far less XHTML on the side Google sees.

[Frostie]

Originally Posted by KirstyM I'm told constructing your pages using layers is a great help

Yeah also heard this, and like you Kirsty so far done nada about it

As fars as I know, it is better, but not essential to have keywords at the top of you code - and thats doesn't necessarily mean that the top of your page.

[Brendon]

Bear in mind that a HUGE chunk of the G algo is base on anchor text, and the quality and theme of the sites providing your links. A good linkbuilding campaign can make up for any amount of on-page weakness

[ChrisEvans]

Yup but shows they've still got lots of improving to do since that system can be abused.

[NetNeo]

I use XHTML and CSS mix completly removeing all layout from a web pages code. I have found it makes my pages much faster to display (which is good as they are all dynamic and slower than usual anyway!).
I have found good ranking from SE using this method. I changed old pages in <table> layout and HTML tags leaving the content the same. Much imporved rankings, would recommend it to anyone trying to improve SEO of a page.