When developing content for your website there is no need to guess how to create your pages so that search engines will find your content.  That is because all of the major search engines provide guidelines on how to meet their criteria. 

It is important to understand that following these guidelines does not mean that you will automatically find your website listed on the first page of any search engine results pages (SERP's).   If you read the fist sentence of this article carefully I did not say "so that search engines will find your content relevant". Relevancy is a whole other thing.

In any case, you should understand that following the guidelines is step 1.  If your website content does not meet the basic criteria, you are much less likely to be found relevant to search engines. 

SEO Follow the Guidelines

Google provides guideline for search engine optimization:  
 
Microsoft Bing provides guideline for search engine optimization:  
 
Yahoo provides tips on how to "Get a higher website rank"