The short answer is “pretty bland”.
While photo recognition, and language techniques are getting more advanced all the time, the raw data most search engines (including Google and Bing) see when they do a first pass on your site is very sparse.
Text will almost always be the most important Search Engine Optimisation feature you have (buy all the link pyramids you want, but if your site doesn’t have key, unique, relevant writing you’re achieving nothing) and using software like Lynx is an excellent way to test it.
Lynx as a browser pre-dates pretty-much every browser you’re likely to have on your computer, and is the browser a lot of search engine spiders use.
You can use it on Linux easily, or save yourself the hassle as use a web based version:
http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html
Check to see that the text on your site is readable in it, that your menu structure shows (and works), and that the text it does show makes sense. That might seem odd at first, but you’d be surprised how many sites do not make sense when viewed in simple text (i.e. they rely too much on graphics to do their talking) and search engines like to read things they can understand; that a human will make sense of easily.
It’s a little SEO tool in what needs to be a big arsenal.
petermahoney.com as it appears in Lynx
