Social button yes or social button no...
-
Hi everybody!
It's quite clear that if you have a pretty, clean, compact html code on your website, Google loves you as a lovely mom does with her kids.
But it's not a dream world and you have actually to choose between social and clean code.
In fact to add, for example, the Facebook social button, you have to include some files from the Facebook servers. Even though the googlebot doesn't download them (but people do, with page optimization decreasing), it reads some javascript code. Moreover you have to add some code where you want the button appears.
I think it hasn't much sense for the googlebot, so that could it be punitive for your website / page to place that bunch of code?
In the end my question is the following:
Does the social power win against negative factors like additional files to download and a bunch of ugly code in your body?
social power > bad factors (file downloading+more code)?
-
Thanks for your reply Jamie.
I think there's not only black and white in code writing. Theoretically you have to produce perfect html/xhtml W3C standards compliant code but you also have to face many changes in standards, the needs of your website, cost ties, velocity issues etc. For example, if you try to validate the piece of code I placed upon, using xhtml 1.1 standard, the w3c website will warn you because you can't use not supported attributes.
It's clear: Google doesn't need to follow standards, beacuse Google makes the standard, but what really Google thinks about my site without Facebook buttons is the same as it would think with them? For example if I insert the following piece of code which is a tag that describes the entity your page represents, what's the googlebot's impression?
In the end also a visitor will perceive the difference, if he will have to wait additional secs, waiting for the file download, especially if he uses an old single download channel browser.
I don't know if the sum of all theese issues exceedes the advantages. Does someone has some evidence about it?
-
Hello,
How do you measure "clean, compact code"? As far as I am aware the primary measurement is code validation as per W3C standards (http://validator.w3.org). I checked the line of code you shared and it is valid HTML5 code.
Google has the ability to crawl invalid code as well. There are millions of sites and many of them use invalid code, including Google.com. I always recommend using valid code but just because code is invalid does not mean Google will have any problem crawling or indexing your site. Each error needs to be evaluated.
In the case above, there does not seem to be any problem with the code so I do not see any concern in using it. Aside from code optimization, I would still use it. Social media has been shown to offer a greater traffic boost then any other factor. It's a must for your website.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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
-
Language Specific Social Account
We have a managed server company http://www.centerserv.com in 3 languages. The 3 languages are international and not country specific. Should we open 3 different social media account/page for each languages (facebook, twitter, pinterest, linkedin, google+,tumblr)?
Social Media | | groupemedia0 -
Request: Feedback on new free tool that provides social analytics for recent blog posts
We have created a tool that provides "at a glance social metrics" for the URLs listed in an RSS feed. Its intended purposes are: Monitor the social success of your recent blog posts Spy on the social success of your competitors' recent blog posts Quickly analyze a blog for social sharing metrics to determine whether it is a good outreach prospect or guest post opportunity Check out the tool at http://www.rypmarketing.com/tools/rss-social-analyzer.php I've attached a report run on the YouMoz RSS feed. Would love to hear some feedback on the tool... Do you think the tool is useful? Nice, but not worthwhile? What could be done to improve it? What ways do you think it will be most useful? Thanks! RSSSocialAnalyzer-YouMoz.png
Social Media | | AdamThompson0 -
Social Signals CONFUSION
You know how sharing on social networking sites can act as social signal for ranking but I was wondering that what type of sharing on fb/google + ? does it has to be our site links all the time or any sharing other than our own site links matters too ? lets say if we are just discussing something on fb/google+ without our site link does that count too? social signal is sent only when we share our own sites link on social sites or through any kind of activity on our social fb/google+ page ? If you want to tell anything else connected with social signal please go ahead ..
Social Media | | Personnel_Concept0 -
B2B social share
Hello, Social sharing is a positive signal for SEO.Google told on its blog, Googlebot take car of more than 200 social websites. Sometime Twitter and Facebook aren't good marketing places because business isn't B2C but B2B. So customers doesn't use them for job, but they use Linkedin, Viadeo, Xing, and maybe some other. I can't be present onto all social website, I've to choose the most relevant.
Social Media | | Max84
I already know which are better for branding and CRM. But for SEO, which is better for you, and why ? Thanks0 -
Should the Google Plus button be sitewide?
Hi All, We are in the process of adding a Google Plus button to our site (to the header, sitewide) - at http://www.jewelleryoutlet.com.au/ My question is, should the button have behavioural characteristics that apply to the whole site, or only for that page that it is clicked on. Consider these scenarios: A customer clicks on the G+ button from the homepage - they then 'like' that page (our homepage, i.e. our site) A customer clicks on the G+ button from a category page - e.g. http://www.jewelleryoutlet.com.au/cheap-necklaces-s/1818.htm. Because the button is in the header and sitewide, should the customer be 'liking' http://www.jewelleryoutlet.com.au/ or http://www.jewelleryoutlet.com.au/cheap-necklaces-s/1818.htm? We are also adding a Google + button to the item template, e.g. on http://www.jewelleryoutlet.com.au/product-p/jn1003.htmsomewhere above the Add to Cart button. When they press the button in this instance, they are 'liking' only that page (which is how I would want the functionality to work). So my question is to do with point 2 above. Much like a Facebook 'like/fan count' type button that exists in the header of many sites, should the G+ button function the same way? E.g. if we have a count of 10 in the header on the homepage, then there is also a count of 10 sitewide? Or should this reset for every subsequent page that a customer lands on, and by pressing the G+ button on that page, they are 'liking' only that page. Which is better for SEO? Several different +1's to different pages (e.g. from the necklaces, bracelets and earrings category pages for a more natural structure) or several +1's all pointing to the homepage? Any help or suggestions regarding G+ button or the service in general would be much appreciated. Thanks
Social Media | | bradkrussell0 -
Anyway to have a 'like' button for main page?
I have a Facebook like button on each of my individual posts and a box on my home page where people can 'like' my Facebook fan page..but is there any way to have a Facebook 'like' button on my home page so people can actually like the home page?
Social Media | | NoahsDad0 -
How much is enough when it comes to Social Media?
I have attended a number of social media webinars with tips on getting the most out of Facebook and Twitter. Now, I would like opinions from someone who is not trying to sell me something. We post 2 daily blog articles to our Facebook company page which auto re-posts to Twitter every day. Is that enough, or is it necessary to hire someone to engage people with additional conversation? If your answer is that additional conversation is needed, are there any companies or individuals that you recommend to provide these services at a reasonable cost?
Social Media | | BradBorst0