Tooltips and search engine spiders

[Mike Mason]

I am using the 'title' tag to add pop up tool tips to my internal anchor links on my menus

eg <a href="../home.html" title="Home page">Home </a>

Does anyone know if these are spidered by search engines in the same way that 'alt' tags are for images? I've tried a couple of spider simulators and they don't show up there. I wondered if engines like Google ignore them too or are they picked up for keywording the page and that using good keyword phrases would help in search engine placement.

[MikeGale]

I suggest the first thing is:
"Are these titles good for your audience?"

Will they help or hinder the reader of your site.

I find the answer, for titles, depends on context.

If it's good for your audience put it in.

The search engines try to serve the audience and change what they're doing all the time. In the current situation they do a fair job, it's worse than in the past, but they web is simply full of ill considered chatter so the job is a lot harder.

(When looking at opinions on these matters see how the speaker forms those opinions, in general the opinions are worth nothing or less than that. The search engines change, so tricks are a real bad idea, they might work today and lower your ratings tomorrow. Do what you think is right.)

[Mike Mason]

I already know they are good for my audience. I wanted to know about search engine spiders. Can anybody help me?