How important is the HTML structure for on-page/on-site SEO?
-
To be more specific, say a page layout has Header, Body, Left Sidebar, Footer sections. Which layout from the following options is more SEO-friendly?
- Header > Body > Right Sidebar > Footer
- Body > Header > Right Sidebar > Footer
Does it make a big difference to code HTML so that the the copy of the body appears in front of all other sections when spiders crawl a website? Is it worth taking extra steps to make this happen?
I am asking this question because our site has a header navigation with a lot of dropdown menus. So I assume that this is "noise" for spiders as it pushes the main content of the page down.
Please bear in mind that the question is more geared towards how search engine see the page rather than how it appears to the end user as layout can be controlled by CSS.This question also assumes that all other on-site SEO best practices are followed for both options.
-
I agree with the other answers, but believe 100% your header should be above body content. The way I explain it to my clients is the header is a promise of what is to come. You wouldn't pick up a book without reading the title would you? Or know if it is in your own language?
The header is also the position to tell the SERP's what your entire site is about, look this site is about "such and such" with the "author tag so and so", written to answer "these questions" and you will find ALL that and more in the content.
Body above the header was a trick used years ago in SEO to force feed our intentions on the search engine, now we just politely introduce our page and let them browse the content.
-
Hi,
As irving mentioned in his answer, Google does crawl the whole page. However, from a HTML5 course I took, Google reads the HTML from top to bottom. Meaning if you have 1. Head > Body >Right Sidebar > Footer, Google will read your head first, then the body, then the right side bar and finally footer. If you have 2. Body > Header > Right Sidebar > Footer, they will read Header first. You get the point.
Therefore, it is suggested to have your more important content on the top of the HTML. But overall, Google will crawl the whole page.
-
Google reads the whole page, but it is said to put your content as high up in the code as possible. So if your header is a huge chunk of code, then putting the body above it sounds like a good idea.
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
-
One Page Design / Single Product Page
I have been working in a project. Create a framework for multi pages that I have So here is the case
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Roman-Delcarmen
Most of them are single page product / one page design wich means that I dont have many pages to optimize. All this sites/ pages follow the rules of a landing page optimization because my main goals is convert as many users as I can. At this point I need to optimize the SEO, the basic stuff such as header, descriptions, tittles ect. But most of my traffic is generated by affiliates, which is good beacuse I dont have to worrie to generate traffic but if the affiliate network banned my product, then I lose all my traffic. Put all my eggs in the same basket is not a good idea. Im not an seo guru so that is the reason Im asking whic strategies and tactics can give me results. All kind of ideas are welcome1 -
Competing Pages on Ecommerce Site - Very Frustrating
We have multiple issues with this situation. We rank #1 for "Lace Fabric", #3 for "Lace Trim", and #80 for "Lace". We also rank for "Lace Ribbon", and "Lace Appliques". The Lace Fabric and Lace Trim pages have plenty of backlinks, wherein may lie the problem. We have a similar issue for "Satin". "Silk Satin", "Polyester Satin", "Satin Trim", "Satin Ribbon", etc. This is a very annoying and common pattern. Our backlink profile is sterling, and our competitors with inferior backlink profiles and branded search are outranking us. We outrank them across the board for 2 word terms. Based on my evaluation of TF/CF, PA/DA, Content, etc., we should be on page 1 for "Lace". IMHO, these pages are competing for the head term. Any ideas on how to eliminate this issue to rank for head terms?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | GWMSEO0 -
Two sites with same content in different countries. How does it effect SEO?
Lets say for example that we have to sites, example.com and example.co.uk. The sites has the same content in the same language. Can the sites rank well in its own country? Of course all content could be rewritten, but that is very time consuming. Any suggestions? Has anyone did this before or now a site which has?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | fredrikahlen0 -
Google + pages and SEO results...
Hi, Can anyone give me insight into how people are getting away with naming their business by the SEO search term, creating a BS Google + page, then having that page rank high in the search results. I am speaking specifically about the results you get when you Google: "Los Angeles DUI Lawyer". As you can see from my attached screenshot (I'm doing the search in Los Angeles), the FIRST listing is a Google + business. Strangely, the phone number listed doesn't actually take you to a DUI attorney, but rather to some marketing group that never answers the phone. Can anyone give me insight into why Google even allows this? I just find it odd that Google cares so much about the user experience, but have the first result be something completely misleading. I know it sounds like I'm just jealous (which I am, a little), but I find it disheartening that we work so hard on SEO, and someone takes the top spot with an obvious BS page. UupqBU9
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mrodriguez14400 -
Are Silos Still Important for SEO?
I am in the process of migrating www.nyc-officespace-leader.com from Drupal to Wordpress and my developer is of the opinion that it is not necessary to implement silos to achieve favorable ranking for competitive keywords. I know a lot has changed in the last two years with Panda and Penguin. Is it SEO best practices to implement silos in the course of the redesign? Will this make a significant difference for SEO? Thanks, Alan Rosinsky
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kingalan10 -
Changing Domain / Site Name - An SEO Nightmare?
My company will be changing its name and moving to a new domain in about a month. What can I do from an SEO perspective to get ready for the big move? Do I just need to 301 redirect all my URLs to their new corresponding pages? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Travis-W0 -
How to optimize an about page for SEO. Best practices? Word count?
Does anyone have any advice on word count and best practice SEO for a blog about page or even a website about page?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jdodd0 -
Splitting a Site into Two Sites for SEO Purposes
I have a client that owns a business that really could be easily divided into two separate business in terms of SEO. Right now his web site covers both divisions of his business. He gets about 5500 visitors a month. The majority go to one part of his business and around 600 each month go to the other. So about 11% I'm considering breaking off this 11% and putting it on an entirely different domain name. I think I could rank better for this 11%. The site would only be SEO'd for this particular division of the company. The keywords would not be in competition with each other. I would of course link the two web sites and watch that I don't run into any duplicate content issues. I worry about placing the redirects from the pages that I remove to the new pages. I know Google is not a fan of redirects. Then I also worry about the eventual drop in traffic to the main site now. How big of a factor is traffic in rankings? Other challenges include that the business services 4 major metropolitan areas. Would you do this? Have you done this? How did it work? Any suggestions?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MSWD0