Optimized for Search Engines

(1)
A web page contains a HEAD section, and a BODY section.
A browser can receive the HEAD of a document independently of the BODY.

(2)
In the HEAD are META tags, which were originally meant to convey some meaning about the content of the page.
In the mid 90's these META tags were abused by porn sites, and general spam sites followed suit.
As a result, keywords in META tags are to all intents and purposes ignored by major search engines.
http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167931

(3)
The BODY of a document contains words and pictures.
Modern search engines understand the SEMANTICS of html page construction.
Modern search engines understand the RELATIONSHIPS between web pages.

(4)
The heavy use of graphics, javascript, flash, etc detracts from the SEMANTICS of pages. Search engines cannot understand what the page is about if headings are fancy jpegs, or stories are presented in flash, for example. They may look nice, but they're useless and invisible to SEO.
The order in which pages are constructed, the simplicity and consistency of their layouts, all help to separate the CONTENT from the PRESENTATION.
There are many tricks and techniques used to gain rankings - mostly by repeating key words, juggling with the headlines and titles of pages, and changing the actual page content to be more in line with your target audience's search patterns.

(5)
The RELATIONSHIPS between pages and between web sites are equally important to Google algorithms. Their massive databases of page CONTENT are all cross-referenced by looking at the links into and out of sites and pages. If your web site has many other sites linking to it, then it rises in relative importance. It is clearly a respected site. If you link out to other sites, this is interpreted as providing well-rounded unbiased opinion in the field. Your site rises in relative importance. Your links should be more than "click here", and should contain relevant wording to help these algorithms understand you.

(6)
It is possible to obsess about search engine results in the light of the myriad snake oil merchants pushing this field. There are a whole bunch of good people in SEO and the proportions are getting better. But there's a lot of FUD going around to fuel this niche (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) Check out what Danny Sullivan has to say - http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2167961 In my opinion he's the one to listen to.
Other stuff of relevance http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=webmasters

(7)
URLs are followed by the link-checkers in Google. The format of these URLs is important.
If there's a question mark (a "hook" - technically a piece of path information, or Query String) in the URL, then this can be confused with a cgi link rather than a regular web page. Google's behaviour with these is erratic. If it is deemed to be a cgi, then the path is not followed and the results not indexed.
Simple site architecture, rational subdirectory paths, and consistent PERMANENT urls structure will be very friendly.

OK, so where does Gazette fit in this?

Firstly, Gazette only supplies the data storage and management.
Your site design only determines PRESENTATION
Your editorial decisions and content determine the SEMANTICS, the linked RELATIONSHIPS, the CONTENT, the META.

In other words, you can build a site using any tools you want.
If your content is good, and you link well and often, then Google will like you.

Gazette helps your pages be seen and recognised by search engines because:

• The site architecture is forced to be consistent.
• The templating system forces content to be presented in valid html.
• The URL structure is search-engine friendly, and permanent.
• You can add META tags to anything.
• Gazette specifically separates content from presentation, allowing you to reuse the semantic meaning of tags, keywords, etc

The other thing to note is that many search engines, and in fact Google themselves, make heavy use of the DMOZ open databases, which are compiled BY HAND using humans to visit sites and rank their usefulness.

Once again - good content, clean fast design, consistency and links in/out. That's the trick to optimizing search engine results.

Some methods considered proper by the search engines:

• Using unique and relevant title to name each page.
• Editing web pages to replace vague wording with specific terminology relevant to the subject of the page, and that the audiences that the site was developed for will expect to see on the pages, and will search with to find the page.
• Increasing the amount of unique content on the site.
• Writing quality content for the website visitors instead of the search engines.
• Using a reasonably-sized, accurate description meta tag without excessive use of keywords, exclamation marks or off topic terms.
• Ensuring that all pages are accessible via anchor tag hyperlinks, and not only via Java, Javascript or Macromedia Flash applications or meta refresh redirection; this can be done through the use of text-based links in site navigation and also via a page listing all the contents of the site (a site map).
• Allowing search engine spiders to crawl pages without having to accept session IDs or cookies.
• Developing "link bait" strategies. High quality websites that offer interesting content or novel features tend to accumulate large numbers of backlinks.
• Participating in a web ring with other quality websites.
• Writing useful, informational articles under a Creative Commons or other open source license, in exchange for attribution to the author by hyperlink.

Read More

• General discussion of SEO
• Google's Guidelines on SEOs
• Google's Guidelines on Site Design
• MSN Search Guidelines for successful indexing