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  4. tags inside <a>tags - is this bad?</a>

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tags inside <a>tags - is this bad?</a>

Intermediate & Advanced SEO
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  • mjk26
    mjk26 Subscriber last edited by Oct 24, 2012, 1:24 PM

    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>

    <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

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • CMC-SD
      CMC-SD @john4math last edited by Oct 24, 2012, 3:40 PM Oct 24, 2012, 3:40 PM

      Totally agree. Add a class to those <a>s and style that.</a>

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • john4math
        john4math last edited by Oct 24, 2012, 3:29 PM Oct 24, 2012, 3:06 PM

        <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>

        CMC-SD 1 Reply Last reply Oct 24, 2012, 3:40 PM Reply Quote 2
        • donford
          donford last edited by Oct 24, 2012, 3:28 PM Oct 24, 2012, 1:58 PM

          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

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • Andy.Drinkwater
            Andy.Drinkwater last edited by Oct 24, 2012, 3:28 PM Oct 24, 2012, 1:33 PM

            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

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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