SEO effect of <abbr> and <acronym> tags?

[Tim_Myth]

I am in the process of rebuilding my wife's website (http://www.byrequest.dj), and I am wondering about the SEO effects of the abbr and acronym tags. Her website is for her DJ company, but searches for "disc jockey" and "DJ" seem to be pretty evenly split. Rather than trying to make one page to target the term "DJ" and one to target "disc jockey", could I simply use DJ in the page copy and surround it with abbr and acronym tags that expand it to Disc Jockey? Do search engines pay attention to the title attributes of these tags?

[Burf.com]

Has anyone got a answer for this because it sounds an interesting idea

[incrediblehelp]

With the acronym tags isn't the content still invisible to the end user hence not a good experience for them and solely done for search engine effects? If this is a yes then I would have to say it would not be a good idea. Creating two independent pages (content) set up to concentrate on both keywords is the best way to go.

Of course I have no testing to disprove that using the acronym tags would or wouldn't help. Testing would be best. It is pretty much fact that SE's pay little attention to title attribute of any element and this acronym tag is fairly new and may not be widely supported. My guess would be a no, that it wont help you in SEO right now.

[brian.mark]

...it wont help you in SEO right now.

Key words there are right now. None of us know for certain what tomorrow holds, so it seems like a best practice to include them today so you're ready for tomorrow.

Brian.

[incrediblehelp]

Very true Brian. I have always been very big on creating great content and setting yourself apart when building websites, but that simple doesn't get you to the top of the SERPs right now. I do feel as less weight (or different weight) is placed on IBL's in the coming months/years, content will be able much more valuable.

[Tim_Myth]

I completely agree that more weight is placed on ibls, but I'm dealing with a David and Goliath situation here. There are a handful of dj directories that can afford to buy their way to the top 10 with paid links.This means I have to resort to every legal trick I can to beat tem at a reduced cost, and on page SEO is an important part of that equation.

I don't know how new they are, but acronym and abbr are part of HTML 4.01 Strict. Also, FF users will notice the abbreviated text (or is it the acronym?) is underlined, and that mousing over the text will create a tool tip with the exanpded text in it. IE users get no visual indication that anything exists, and I haven't bothered to test with NN. I also know that they are useful for accessibility (something I think search engines like?).