Part 1: Head of a HTML
1. <title>(Required). Codes for webpage (i.e., a html document) title as seen on browser tab. E.g., "Inbox (1,038) - whoever@gmail.com".
2. <base>
Specifies the default url for all links on a page.
3. <meta>
Provides info (metadata) about a page (author, etc.). Doesn't affect page display.
One example is the outlining of the most apt keywords for a page (this particular tag is generally used by SE's I think). E.g. = <meta name="keywords" content="Ireland News Local International" />, from IrishTimes source. This helps in terms of SE output for searches by target users.
4. <style>
Codes for layout style such as background colour. Not specific to <head>.
5. <link>
Links to external context. E.g., to icons/images stored externally to the page, feeds and online comments management software for IrishTimes. Not specific to <head>.
This tag often links to external css styling sheet files.
Can also be used to specify that SE's will direct to only one particular page even if it's accessible via more than one url.
Links also seem to code for things that appear in drop-downs when certain parts of the page are scrolled over. E.g., when the News (or Sport, etc) tab on the IT main page is scrolled to, the drop down menu that appears with different subsections and the main items.
These also enable widgets to be included.
6. <script>
" ... either contains scripting statements, or it points to an external script file through the src attribute." Presumably usually JavaScript.
7. <noscript>
" ... defines an alternate content for users that have disabled scripts in their browser or have a browser that doesn't support script."
Part 3a: SEO-related advice for developers (from reading of Google SEO Starter Guide, and general personal understanding)
1. In terms of SE output, use a relevant and catchy title - one that will be most likely to fire for terms entered by your target web users. Results will also be based on pages other than your site's main page, so use relevant terms in the titles for these pages as well.
2. Once you've got your site coming up in for relevant searches, make it more visitable (more 'click-desirable'). Meta description HTML tags (in conjunction with the "content" attribute) can be used by SE's to provide additional info below the main site title in their output.
I'm not yet too sure if meta data is what's used to get non-main site pages to also be directly clickable in search results (e.g., Contact, Services), but this is a nice feature relevant to this entry too.
3. Make your site as interesting, aesthetically-pleasing, and navigable as possible. This, for me, seems to be separate to pure SEO-related advice, but it's still of course salient advice in web development.
4. Ensure your site works on a mobile platform, both in terms of searchability and navigability. Also increase presence on social media sites and on sites like GoogleMaps.
Bonus: Where applicable, make your opening hours clearly visible! No one seems to do this!
3b. How to use above advice to improve the Fish Creek website exercise
I could use keywords in conjunction with the meta tag's keywords attribute to make sure the site is better crawled by SE's.
I could also ensure a description of the site comes up under SE results using the meta tag's content attribute.
I haven't as yet implemented these changes as I wouldn't be able to see the outcomes in a real world sense. (I'm assuming I can only see the site from the local system if the site isn't hosted etc.)
