HTML5, semantic web & SEO
-
HTML5 is supposed to revolutionize the way browsers, web clients and services are supposed to "understand" information on the web. I have been planning on converting my site to HTML5 ever since it went into a working draft last spring, however I wanted to know if upgrading to HTML5 would offer any SEO benefits or if it would actually have a negative effect on how my site is perceived on the web.
I guess my real question here is "Do search engines recognize HTML5 sectioning?"
Is content found in semantic sections like
<header>,
<footer>,
<nav>,
<aside>, treated any different than content inside generic HTML4 containers like,
or ?
</aside>
</nav>
</footer>
</header>
-
This is something we will be experimenting with in the future. For now, I think we, as SEO's should be considering HTML5 as it will be the future of the semantic web.
Until people start experimenting and trying it out we won't really know and I think there is a definite divide at the moment between HTML5 developers and SEO's.
Theoretically, having an explicit
,
<header>,
<nav>etc should make it quicker and easier for SE's to parse and as we know, Google likes things that make it's spiders job easier/quicker. But this is just hypothesis at the moment.</nav>
</header>
-
They already recognize page sectioning (headers, footers, navigation sidebars, content area), regardless of doctype. This is why links in some parts of a page carry more weight than others.
-
Agreed; I haven't read anything yet that the new tags/attributes have any effect at all in SEO terms
-
I don't think it would have any effect to be frank. Take a look here, a bit old but the closest I could find;
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=2d4592cbb613e42c&hl=en
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Migration from HTML to Wordpress - SEO Implications?
I am in the process of having a wordpress site developed to replace my current HTML site. (I currently have my website in html and a blog in wordpress in a sub directory). I am doing this in phases to try and preserve as much of my good rankings as possible. My first phase is to replicate my site with the exact same pages, meta data, and site structure. I'm hoping that google will see this as not much change and not change my rankings for the worse. I also made it a goal that my site speed tests be at least equal to what they are now. We will have to 301 all of the URLs however since it will be going from /example.html to /example. I believe my blog will also need to move into the root directory as well, so I need to 301 all of those pages. I plan to wait a couple months for Phase 2. Phase 2 involves replacing old content (photo galleries), and introducing new content (virtual tours, videos, new pages, etc.) One of my reasons for moving to wordpress is to keep up with current trends a little easier since I have very little time. (I am owner, website maintainer, SEO - all on my own). My question here is three parts. 1. Do you think this strategy will work to preserve my current rankings? 2. Do you have any lessons learned or advice to share with me to make this as smooth as possible? 3. Do I really need to wait to add new content? I might get antsy and want to do it sooner! 🙂 Thank you in advance!
Web Design | | CalicoKitty20001 -
Web Developments and Breakpoints for SEO
Google likes fast and clean pages. Pages load better when they are optimized for each platform. With the new Ultra HD resolutions and ultra phones, what is the optimal number of breakpoints for web page with images on them?
Web Design | | Atlanta-SMO0 -
Are Carousels Bad for SEO?
My real estate web site was migrated form Drupal to Wordpress last July. The ranking have dropped a lot since migration. One of the things we changed is that we have added two carousels to the home page. Most of the text is below the carousels. Is this bad for SEO? Thanks,
Web Design | | Kingalan1
Alan1 -
How does a Responsive Site kill SEO?
How does a Responsive Site poentially kill SEO? I've seen a few feeds on twitter how a website took a rankings dive after implementing a Responsive theme; yet, it's not clear to me what is actually going on within a Responsive site that would cause the SEO rank to tank? I can only speculate that it introduces a bunch of 404 errors, or that it changes all of the URLs into gibberish, so you loose all of the links coming into your website if not 301'ed? Can someone clarify, what are the actual mechanical issues on a Responsive website that becomes a concern to SEO? Thanks.
Web Design | | ExploreConsulting1 -
Web Developer Using Stock Photos
Hello, The organization is selling a cms system in a niche market across the country. It has the normal SEO challenges, in addition he is using purchased stock images. This seemed ok, while he was smaller but now we are growing rapidly and these images are VERY STOCK- and well used ( I have checked with Tiny Eye). I remember a few years ago this was a flag to the search engines who went through manual review, is this still true? It seems to me that the theme's that come with the images, are duplicated ( including navigation & footers), so having the duplicated images would be another negative. Thank you for your suggestions!
Web Design | | TammyWood0 -
To upgrade or not?, to HTML5 or not?
Currently ranking 1st (local: with the city name at the end of kw) for the main target keyword. But in need to upgrade Joomla CMS for security reasons and Design to improve conversions. What would you recommend: a) do not touch the (generated) code structure, I mean to replicate current structure in the new template. b) go for a new HTML5 pattern but keep content without any change. c) your recommentation... Thanks!
Web Design | | hugoaf0 -
Anyone used bugherd.com for onsite seo purposes?
Just as the title says, has anyone used bugherd.com for SEO purposes? I was thinking it could be used to show client changes that need to be made regarding the website. Example could be if you are looking at a CRO prospective, you may want to change/add some graphics or text to improve conversions. It seems like a nifty tool to show the changes you want made and to keep track of them. It integrates with basecamp also 🙂
Web Design | | KyleChamp0 -
How SEO friendly (or unfriendly) this site structure is
We have a client who wants a site structure like this http://thethomasoliverband.com/home - try to scroll down on the content and see how the url of the site changes. Would there be any problems on trying to SEO this type of structure?
Web Design | | paulct0