Worth Improving HTML Sort Order?
-
Our developer has suggested that we alter our HTML so the important content appears at the very top of the source code and Google can index our pages more efficiently.
Is this a worthwhile improvement in terms of improving ranking?
Our developer describes the improvement in this manner:
sort-order of the important content inside the code, so we may have similar text code ratio at the end but the important code we need Google to index will be at the very top in the source code, in terms of a very technical approach Google will find the key content faster and that should help to improve the crawling process as search engines read HTML code linearly. This change do not necessarily will affect the HTML, we can achieve it by using style sheet (CSS code) instead, reducing the chance of major BUGs.
Thanks, Alan
-
Thanks for your feedback!!!
Code for the site already uses CSS. What our developer is suggesting is to place the text towards the top of the source code to make it easier for Google to index. The amount of code will not be reduced (code to text ratio will not change). The site already uses CSS. So this will not speed up the site but will hopefully allow Google to index the text more efficiently.
Do you think that this change may yield an improvement in ranking?
Thanks, Alan
-
I push for it as much a possible. I always prefer it but if it's just too much trouble (if it affects other things, causes down time etc) then I skip it.
In terms of improvements, I have personally seen some good improvements because of that and cleaner code.
-
External style sheets are pretty much standard these days on web pages. If you view source on any reputable site, you will see a reference to an external CSS in addition to references to various JS files etc. This techniques also enables the CSS to be cached and re-used as persons go through your site. Faster sites make for happier users make for better rankings.
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
-
Is it worth keeping a decades-old domain that's merely 301 redirecting to the main domain?
Hi fellow Moz SEOs, We have a bigger client who we just did an SEO Site Audit for, and it was discovered that they have several domain names that are simply 301 redirecting to their main domain name. One of their domains in particular is decades old, and the client is asking if there is any value in keeping it (and the others), or simply leaving them as-is. Considering the domain age, does anyone have any recommendations? Much appreciated, Zack Barton
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Zack
Barton Interactive
(833) 442.6853 // office
(408) 910.7750 // mobile
https://bartoninteractive.com0 -
How do I canonicalize an old HTML static site?
Hey All, I have an old static HTML site, and the crawl errors are showing "http://www.website.com" and http://website.com" as the two separate pages because there is no canonicalization. Can I fix that with a rel="canonical" tag? There is just a folder of HTML files to add the tag to, so if the www. version is the true version, can I just add to all the pages? Or is there a better way to do this??
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mbodine0 -
Best Practices for Converting PDFs to HTML
We're working with a client who gets about 80% of their organic, inbound search traffic from links to PDF files on their site. Obviously, this isn't ideal, because someone who just downloads a PDF file directly from a Google query is unlikely to interact with the site in any other way. I'm looking to develop a plan to convert those PDF files to HTML content, and try to get at least some of those visitors to convert into subscribers. What's the best way to go about this? My plan so far is: Develop HTML landing pages for each of the popular PDFs, with the content from the PDF, as well as the option to download the PDF with an email signup. Gradually implement 301 redirects for the existing PDFs, and see what that does to our inbound SEO traffic. I don't want to create a dip in traffic, although our current "direct to inbound" traffic is largely useless. Are their things I should watch out for? Will I get penalized by Google for redirecting a PDF to HTML content? Other things I should be aware of?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | atourgates0 -
Main Menu Navigation appearing twice in the HTML version?
Hi mozzers, I am running an audit and I noticed that the nav is appearing twice in the code (can't see it on the Text version). When looking closely at the code there is an Item called Menu (screenshot2 attached) pointing to www.example.com/#mobile-menu that is right in between both main menus. I am assuming that the second nav is for the mobile version? Is this normal to display it this way or not? If it is why is it displayed so? Thanks! k9Rg0YL.png u7VXcw6.png
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ideas-Money-Art0 -
Changing from Wordpress to html
I am desperately hoping that someone can help with this enquiry. I set up a site www.drug-rehab.ltd.uk about two years ago, on wordpress. I was enjoying top four positions for my local search. Until, in my ignorant stupidity, I changed the site to html as the page load was about 15 seconds a page on wordpress. At the time I didn't redirect the pages - I assumed that they would be deleted and Google would update the changes quite quickly. I then employed an seo agency to try and fix the problem, and have been using these guys for about 6 months and there isn't any change in the seo, despite them creating the re-directs from the orphaned pages 6 months ago. This are low competitive keywords. I can find the indexed pages by URL on Google. i.e. http://www.drug-rehab.ltd.uk/drug-rehab-buckinghamshire.html But I can't find the keyword phrase 'Drug Rehab Bedfordshire' etc anywhere. I wrote to Google for page reconsideration and they told me that it doesn't have any spam penalties against it, and there is nothing to consider. Does anyone please have any ideas how I might be able to revive this site? Many thanks Chris
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Tiedoctor0 -
Cleaning up /index.html on home page
All, What is the best way to deal with a home page that has the /index.html at the end of it? 301 redirect to the .com home page? Just want to make sure I'm not missing something. Thanks in advance.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JSOC0 -
How worth it is it to pursue websites who steal your content via cease/desist or DMCA takedown?
We publish popular general interest content. Using a commercial scanning service, we've found our copied content in many places. Is there an SEO value in getting copied content removed from websites who infringe / copy our content? It is a time consuming process and many infringements. And.... what if they copy the content, but include original links to our site in the content. Ironically, this is actually generating links for us - does this affect the answer?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | sftravel0 -
Duplicate Content Through Sorting
I have a website that sells images. When you search you're given a page like this: http://www.andertoons.com/search-cartoons/santa/ I also give users the option to resort results by date, views and rating like this: http://www.andertoons.com/search-cartoons/santa/byrating/ I've seen in SEOmoz that Google might see these as duplicate content, but it's a feature I think is useful. How should I address this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | andertoons0