Quality Code and SEO

[nashville]

I am interested to know what quality or "valid" code plays in the SEO game. When I use a spider simulator my site does fine and I rank #6 in Google for one keyword.

But could rankings be higher somehow if the code was "better"

Thanks everyone.

PS - If this Google update gets any worse nothing will help.

[aaron2005]

My site that is doing great is a mess and doesn't validate in anything. I see sites above me in the SERPS that are all messed up. It appears to not matter that much. BUT if you have some code that is being seen as spam you are screwed dude. Wish I knew more...sorry.

[nashville]

I do not *think* I have any spam code. But it seems like I should rank higher than I do based on competitors. I seem to only make positions 5-20 with 9-14 being average.

[onelife]

We use Frontpage to create the sites, so the code is pretty bloated, but we always seem to rank well even with the bad code.

When I look at my competitors theirs ain't any better to be honest.

So hand on heart I can't say that perfect code would make much difference SEO wise.

[wrmineo]

This has been a hotly discussed and contested issue in many threads here at WebProWorld and various other forums. Sorry to admit, I'm too disorganized and lack a sufficient amount of ingested coffee at the moment to find them for you.

However, here are my simple views on this issue.

Is validated code needed for SEO? No, and being politically minded ... also a Yes.

No. Not in the sense that non-valid code can't rank very well for keywords and get massive amounts of traffic. Some geeks started a datacenter in their dorm room a little over seven years ago. To this day, their homepage is still not W3C valid code, yet Google is the #1 media entiity in the world in terms of capital.

Yes. Validating your code has lots of benefits IMO, but in terms of SEO, it simply helps ensure that you don't have any inhibitors or "stoppers" that may prevent a bot from fully crawling, and hence appreciating, your content. Also, validated code generally accesses faster, and that too is a plus not just for bots, but visitors too.

[aaron2005]

coffee???

i

love

coffee

:)

[cryptblade]

I think streamlined code CAN work better, depending on your competitors, industry - and a whole bunch of other factors.

I believe streamlined code is BETTER than bloated code because it is more organized. I prefer to work with style sheets a majority of the time because it is easier to control layout, placements, and specialized display.

It does NOT make or break any of my sites though as far as SEO is concerned. As folks have already stated, there are butch sites other that do well.

But - as general practice, it is best if you can streamline and organize code. Programmers will vouch for that, I'm sure.

[DrTandem1]

Okay, here we go. Some have argued that MSN likes code that validates more than code that does not. Ironically, that would mean sites created with FrontPage would not rank as well as they could.

Now, let's look at a real-world example. Search for "diamond ring" (minus the quotes). On Google and Yahoo, the #1 result in the organic SERPs is:

http://www.adiamondisforever.com

It's #17 on MSN.

Look at its source code. Not only will it not validate, but from an SEO perspective it is also terrible.

Personally, I think a site's code should validate. Not to do so leaves the site open for trouble down the road. Code that does not validate may not appear properly in some browsers. Invalid code means the visitors have a better chance of not seeing the site as it was intended, if at all.

My advice is to take the proper time and patience and effort it requires to build a site to standards set by the W3C. Not for the search engines, but for your visitors.

[onelife]

Further to my previous post. While I'll admit our sites contain Frontpage produced code and are a little bloated, they generally rank really well.

But I also see changes ahead and we're already moving toward more streamlined code that validates correctly. So much so that I currently buffing up on coding right now. So in the future our sites will consist of external style sheets for display, positioning etc and the page will be for content only.

It has got to be the way forward and I don't think it'll be long before SEO moves in that direction.

[TrafficProducer]

"valid" code

Sorry if this distracts from the original quire..

I mainly use Microsoft Front Page, and some HTML by hand for my static websites pages.

ARGH!!!! Front Page keeps breaking lines of text up...

for example, note the Newlines placed in by Front Page:-

HomeKey A simple
beginners touch typing program. Make your own lessons. Improve your
keyboard skills. Learn at your own speed.<font color="#FF0000">Freeware</font>,
copy and pass on for free. Touch typing trainer program
for DOS or Windows.

I think this be harder to read for search engines.

Doing or tiding up by hand would take too long.

Is DreamWeaver better???