Proper HTML formatting - does it affect SE rating?

NaughtyTeddy · 2008-09-07, 12:13 PM

How important is to use the latest HTML standards for getting good SE rating?

Could it be that blogs rank so high in SEs partly because they are usually properly formatted?

elKabong · 2008-09-07, 03:58 PM

I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to, but if your HTML isn't formatted correctly it's not likely to display correctly across different browsers.

Follow these standards and you won't have any problems: W3 Schools

justbondage · 2008-09-07, 04:08 PM

Since search engines view your site as text complying to web standards is vital, some browsers can forgive a broken tag or two, but if a search engine cannot see it then certain things will never get listed or spidered properly.

NaughtyTeddy · 2008-09-08, 05:11 PM

I don't know how to formulate my question correctly, as web standards is completely unknown world to me.

I'm using Dreamweaver 8 for building my sites. Even though, it can produce good looking stuff, I believe, it uses old-school HTML (<table> tags and etc.).
As I understand, it is advisable for web developers to use new-age page formatting language. Is it called XHTML?

Maybe someone can give a few guides here.

elKabong · 2008-09-08, 11:13 PM

W3 Schools

My advice would be to learn how to manually code html first, it's super easy and can be learned in just a few days.

By learning to code html manually you'll understand what the code actually doing, which is hidden when you use some of the fancier web design software.

Once you've html down, then learn some basic css and javascript, and that's really all you'll need to build free sites.

Halfdeck · 2008-09-28, 10:55 AM

Google doesn't use WC3 compliance as a ranking factor.

That said, there are cases where badly botched HTML will cause issues: e.g. META description / TITLE not properly picked up by Googlebot due to malformed code.

Best practice is to run a site through a validator at least once. No need to fix stuff like & in URLs just make sure you got no major issues (e.g. screwy HTML nesting, unclosed </a>).

boobookitty · 2008-10-02, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halfdeck

Best practice is to run a site through a validator at least once. No need to fix stuff like & in URLs just make sure you got no major issues (e.g. screwy HTML nesting, unclosed </a>).

I like this one:
http://www.htmlvalidator.com/lite/

I agree that you don't have to be W3 compliant to be spidered. None of my sites are and they get spidered.

2008-09-07, 12:13 PM	#1
NaughtyTeddy Aw, Dad, you've done a lot of great things, but you're a very old man, and old people are useless Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 29	Proper HTML formatting - does it affect SE rating? How important is to use the latest HTML standards for getting good SE rating? Could it be that blogs rank so high in SEs partly because they are usually properly formatted?

2008-09-07, 04:08 PM	#3
justbondage I want to set the record straight - I thought the cop was a prostitute Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 293	Since search engines view your site as text complying to web standards is vital, some browsers can forgive a broken tag or two, but if a search engine cannot see it then certain things will never get listed or spidered properly. __________________ TOF - Post your galleries JB - Post bondage stuff ICQ - 424617189

2008-09-08, 11:13 PM	#5
elKabong And Lord, we are especially thankful for nuclear power, the cleanest, safest energy source there is. Except for solar, which is just a pipe dream Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Kansas City Posts: 225	W3 Schools My advice would be to learn how to manually code html first, it's super easy and can be learned in just a few days. By learning to code html manually you'll understand what the code actually doing, which is hidden when you use some of the fancier web design software. Once you've html down, then learn some basic css and javascript, and that's really all you'll need to build free sites. Last edited by elKabong; 2008-09-08 at 11:20 PM..

2008-09-28, 10:55 AM	#6
Halfdeck You can now put whatever you want in this space :) Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: New Haven, CT Posts: 985	Google doesn't use WC3 compliance as a ranking factor. That said, there are cases where badly botched HTML will cause issues: e.g. META description / TITLE not properly picked up by Googlebot due to malformed code. Best practice is to run a site through a validator at least once. No need to fix stuff like & in URLs just make sure you got no major issues (e.g. screwy HTML nesting, unclosed </a>). __________________ Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.

2008-09-07, 03:58 PM	#2
elKabong And Lord, we are especially thankful for nuclear power, the cleanest, safest energy source there is. Except for solar, which is just a pipe dream Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Kansas City Posts: 225	I'm not exactly sure what you're referring to, but if your HTML isn't formatted correctly it's not likely to display correctly across different browsers. Follow these standards and you won't have any problems: W3 Schools

2008-09-08, 05:11 PM	#4
NaughtyTeddy Aw, Dad, you've done a lot of great things, but you're a very old man, and old people are useless Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 29	I don't know how to formulate my question correctly, as web standards is completely unknown world to me. I'm using Dreamweaver 8 for building my sites. Even though, it can produce good looking stuff, I believe, it uses old-school HTML (<table> tags and etc.). As I understand, it is advisable for web developers to use new-age page formatting language. Is it called XHTML? Maybe someone can give a few guides here.