Smaller files, lighter code and faster load times are an often overlooked factor in optimizing a website for search. Poor coding leads to poor search results, and gives those sites that are built properly an advantage over those which aren't. Try these 12 recommendations to help your pages look great on different browsers and mobile devices while working their best.

1. Search engines can't decipher Javascript Code, so be sure to link Javascript from an external file instead of embedded into the actual site whenever you can.

2. Balance your tags in server side includes. If an include file starts with a div it should end with a div close tag. When you do that, each file can be viewed in "design view" on Dreamweaver.

3. Eliminate any unnecessary or empty tags. There should be a definitely purpose for all pieces of HTML code. WYSIWYG editors can also insert HTML code you don't want into your pages. This empty code should be eliminated from your code to ensure the best optimization of the code.

4. Don't put titles and meta descriptions in server side includes. Make them unique per page.

5. The default title format should be "Page | Category | Company"

6. The default description should be the first one or two meaningful sentences of content.

7. Make sure that all links and references to images, CSS and JavaScript are root relative by starting them with a slash, "/". Root relative links won't break if you move files from one directory to another.

8. Use sub directories. Too much one one directory will make the site hard to index.

9. Getting rid of small errors makes the big ones simpler to find. Make sure to run your code through a validator and keep it tight.

10. Avoid using layout tables. Use CSS with HTML elements to format.

11. Use heading tags, unordered lists and numbered lists to organize content in lieu of spacer graphics and nested tables.

12. Consistently use the simplest URLs. Link to "/" instead of "/index.php" or "/news/" instead of "/news/index.php".

The faster your pages load, the more time you'll save, and the better your search traffic will be.