Search Engine Optimization

1. Use precise Keywords.
   i.e. Load - Bank Loan, Student Loan, Equity Loan, etc.
2. Order and placement of Keywords matters
   
   • The relative distance between keywords in documents (proximity)
   • Where in a document the terms occur (distribution)
   • The co-citation frequency between terms (co-occurance)
   • The main theme, topic, and sub-topics (on-topic issues) of the documents
3. Use Keyword in your domain or sub domain of website.
   i.e. equityloans.com
4. Use hyphens (-) to seperate multiple keywords
   i.e. bank-loans, student-loans. Each covers two keywords.
5. Use relevant directory and file names that reflect your keywords.
   i.e. codeExamples.html incorporates code and examples. or bankLoans.html.
6. Spell check, Declare document Type, Validate HTML & CSS. Search Engines do not like pages with errors. Make sure they're clean and valid.
7. Put Titles on your pages (60-80 characters) that are relevant.
8. Heading Tags - Include the most important keyword phrases in the heading tags.
9. Specifiy Meta Keywords in Heading of document (15 - 29 words). Most search engine do not give these importance, but they are still good to have.
10. Use text for navigation.
11. Use synonyms for your keywords throughout your pages.
    i.e. programming, coding, etc.
12. Hyperlink keywords in text. Do not create hyperlinks that say "click here".
13. Assign "alt" attributes to images.

Several points taken from: http://www.hiddentricks.com/seo/

Great Article on the Basics of Search Engine Optimization. A bit lengthy, but good.
http://guides.seomoz.org/chapter-4-basics-of-search-engine-friendly-design-and-development

How Google Crawls: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=70897

SEO browser shows what you're site looks like to crawl engines, view backlinks to your site, and other information to help you see where your site stands:
http://www.seo-browser.com/