tags inside <a>tags - is this bad?</a>
-
Hi,
I'm currently redesigning my website, and in many places, I've now decided to make links a little bit more obvious for the user, using tags within a <a>tag in order to make the entire block of text clickable. I was just wondering if this could have a negative impact in the search engines. My gut feeling is no, since I'm actually improving usability, but I guess it could have an impact on how Google looks at the anchor text? An example of the HTML is as follows: </a>
<a></a>
[Cristal Night Club Hotels
<address>1045 5th Street
Miami Beach, FL33139</address>6.4 miles from Miami Dade County Auditorium](http://localhost:8080/frontend/venue-hotels/cristal-night-club-hotels/301022 "Hotels near Cristal Night Club")
Thanks for your thoughts and comments,
Best wishes
Mike
-
Totally agree. Add a class to those <a>s and style that.</a>
-
<spans>are all over the web, and used in lots of different situations. It shouldn't adverse affect your rankings.</spans>
That being said, going over your site and adding s into all your <a>s doesn't sound like fun... and after all you may want to change it again down the road. You can't accomplish something similar with CSS? I think styling your</a> <a>s with "display:block;" should accomplish the same thing as adding this to all your</a> <a>s?</a>
-
Hi Mike,
In general there is not many negatives to using html / css styling. The exceptions being when you are purposely hiding text, from users. Example: white text on a white background.
Specifically in the case you asked about, I have never heard, seen, or otherwise caught a whiff of this being a bad thing, rather it is more of an accepted reality.
Hope that helps,
Don
-
I have never seen an instance where a span tag has had any negative effect on SEO as it is just a standard HTML element.
OK, perhaps some favour a style sheet, but raw code on the page is still more than acceptable.
Andy
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
-
How to stagger <h>tags?</h>
This might seem like a silly question, but It's one that I would like to get some responses from the SEO community. Do <h>tags need to be staggered according to the numbers? For example: A few of our clients have their h1 tag listed on a mid-way header that is halfway down their page, and there are both h2's and h3's listed before the h1 in the source code. Does this matter? Let me know!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TaylorRHawkins
Thanks! </h>2 -
Alt Tags
Hi We have lots of alt tags missing, I know they'e recommended by Google, so moving forward we will ensure we add them to product images, but should we go back and update the ones we have missing? How important is it for SEO? Has anyone tested this? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BeckyKey0 -
Adding a Canonical Tag to each page referencing itself?
Hey Mozers! I've noticed that on www.Zappos.com they have a Canonical tag on each page referencing it self. I have heard that this is a popular method but I dont see the point in canon tagging a page to its self. Any thoughts?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rpaiva0 -
Some Tools Not Recognizing Meta Tags
I am analyzing a site which has several thousands of pages, checking the headers, meta tags, and other on page factors. I noticed that the spider tool on SEO Book (http://tools.seobook.com/general/spider-test) does not seem to recognize the meta tags for various pages. However, using other tools including Moz, it seems the meta tags are being recognized. I wouldn't be as concerned with why a tool is not picking up the tags. But, the site suffered a large traffic loss and we're still trying to figure out what remaining issues need to be addressed. Also, many of those pages once ranked in Google and now cannot be found unless you do a site:// search. Is it possible that there is something blocking where various tools or crawlers can easily read them, but other tools cannot. This would seem very strange to me, but the above is what I've witnessed recently. Your suggestions and feedback are appreciated, especially as this site continues to battle Panda.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ABK7170 -
Help with https// redirects
Hey there
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Jay328
I have a client who just moved from a self hosted CMS to Adobe Catalyst (don't ask!)
The problem: Their url indexed with google is https://domain.com, Adobe Catalyst does not support third party SSL certificates or https domains. Now when people google them https://domain.com shows up in search, HOWEVER it does not have a trusted certificate and a pop up window blocks the site. They are a mortgage company so SSL is really not needed. What can I do to get google to recognize the site at http: vs. https? Would this be something in GWMT? Thanks!0 -
Is having all your media hosted on a sub-domain bad?
I just realized yesterday while doing some audit work on our site (which is still relatively new) that all of our audio assets are stored on a separate sub-domain. We are an eCommerce site that sells audio books, and every product page has a sample audio file to listen to. But all those files are stored on a sub-domain of the main site. "cdn-media.oursite.com". First, I understand that media(our audio files) has some inherent SEO value if hosted correctly. Is that true? And if so, how important would you think it is? Secondly, assuming that it does have value, are we losing that value by having them hosted on a sub-domain? I have read things that say sub-domains are bad, and I have read things that say that Google at least has been treating sub-domains as sub-folders, but I can't find anything definitive one way or the other. On another note, another thing I saw is that people are linking to the sound files directly in various places, and those links are going to the sub-domain, not the main domain. There aren't even pages on the sub-domain, just the files, so those links deliver a "visitor" to a page that is completely blank except for a tiny little audio player. Not sure what to do about that, but that can't be good one way or the other right? How big of a problem is this really? Is it worth me going to our IT dept. and trying to change it? It sounds like it would be a pretty big deal to change, so I'll need a few voices to back me up if that's the case.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DownPour0 -
Searching for SEO/SEM with eCommerce Experience
I've debated on whether I should ask this on the Q&A forum. Many times I have started to write it, then changed my mind. So today, after sending another round of emails out to potential SEM and SEO consultants and getting zero response, I said what the heck and decided to post it. I will point the finger at myself and say I must be doing something wrong in my approach and the way I am seeking out consultants or maybe what I am not saying. However, I cannot seem to get SEO companies to return my phone calls or emails. Is my company too small? Are most of the companies recommended here too busy with other work to worry about following up? Is my company and brand not sexy enough to deal with? Am I coming across wrong in my emails and phone calls? With that being said, I decided to write a post here and clearly state some basic and general requirements in hope someone interested will respond. I would be more than happy to answer and specific questions about my company, budget, etc. in a PM. I am looking for an SEO firm or consultants who: Will deal with small businesses with revenue under $2M. I have budgeted for this and am ready to start a project immediately. Have experience and a successful track record working with eCommerce sites who sell a large number of products. Interested in a long term relationship that will produce long lasting, durable results. Try to understand my business and what it will take to make grow my ONLINE profitability. I look forward to speaking to anyone interested. Jake
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jake3720 -
Proving Bad Intent
Okay, so based on common sense re: author name and generic comment... ...I'm pretty sure this blog comment awaiting approval is aimed at getting users to a phony site in hopes they will make a donation to a fraudster impersonating Johns Hopkins. But if you check out the URL, you'll see they are not idiots. It's an .edu address with a high DA. Two questions: Are my suspicions well founded? How would I go about proving this, in a less clear cut case? Author : how to grow weed (IP: 173.208.91.231 , 173-208-91-231.ipvnow.com)
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DanielFreedman
E-mail : Diekema@gmail.com
URL : http://apps.pathology.jhu.edu/blogs/pancreas/?p=121
Whois : http://whois.arin.net/rest/ip/173.208.91.231
Comment:
After study a few of the blog posts on your website now, and I truly like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark website list and will be checking back soon. Pls check out my web site as well and let me know what you think0