The concepts laid down below will help you get a very basic idea of some of the required elements of an average home page or doorway page. For detailed help on creating superior pages, please consult the online essays, inline help and be sure to use Page Advisor.
Preface
These tips are often used to create 'doorway' or 'hallway' pages. A doorway will lead only to a main or home page. A hallway will usually forward browsers to the home page, and also list links for the major pages contained in the rest of the site. If you are applying these tips to an actual home page, all the better.
Forwarding visitors from a doorway page
There are a couple of ways to redirect visitors to your home page. Some methods of forwarding customers from doorway pages (such as a Meta Refresh) will be seen in a poor light by some engines. Other methods (Java Redirect) are typically ignored by search engine spiders due to the complexity of translating the Java script into what the actual purpose of it is. If you find that you must use a doorway and a redirect, this is the preferred method of redirecting. If you use a redirect at all, please do so on only one page.
Title
The title of the page should be between 6 and 8 words. The first word of the title should be the primary keyword, or key phrase you have chosen for your site. Be descriptive and concise. Remember, this is the first thing people will see of your site, sell it to them!
Keywords
We suggest between 10 and 12 key phrases with a good focus on your site/service/product. Each of these phrases should be 2 or 3 words long. You should order your keywords in a descending order of importance, separated by commas. For in depth help on selecting winning keywords or key phrases please refer to the Overview article in the AddWeb program entitled "Keyword Importance."
Description
The description should be between 150 and 250 characters (30 to 50 words). The first word or words of your description should be you primary keyword(s) or key phrase. Be descriptive and concise.
Note: Keywords and Descriptions are only rarely used by search engines for the purposes of indexing your site. These are used primarily as a guide for you in bui8lding the pages and staying on a specific theme for the page. The keywords can be referred to further down the page for accuracy.
Content/Body
This section should contain a good amount of descriptive text. We suggest around 450 words
(though this is not required), because the more the engines can read, the better prepared they are to list you well and accurately. Use your keywords or key phrases 3 to 8 times within the content. Don't repeat them endlessly as over use can be considered keyword spamming. Secondary and tertiary keywords should also be repeated a 3 to 5 times. Where the keywords appear on the page can also play a role in your ranking. Engines often consider the content at the top of the page to be more valuable than content at the bottom.
Images
Image ALT tags should be present in every image. Make them descriptive of the image or link. Do not flood the ALT tag with too much text. Keep it short and to the point.
In General
Readable text with links that are clearly marked and explained (link text and ALT tags). Also, avoid lengthy comments, Some engines will only spider the first few bits of a page and if it is filled with comments that they ignore, you will not get the listing you deserve.
These tips are to be used as basic guidelines, and not as a firm set of unbreakable rules. Not every tip will be applicable to every page, and in some case you may want to break with these conventions for specific purposes. For more detailed help on creating winning pages please consult the educational essays within the AddWeb program. They cover many topics and can help you to focus your efforts into real results. The essays can be accessed in the help overview section of the program.