Does css float affect SEO?
-
It is generally believed that the closer the content is to the top of the page, the better it is for SEO. If that's incorrect, please let me know.
I have a 2 column site where the left menu is navigation and right side is content. Obviously, the left menu appears in the code before the content does, but I can flip them around via css float. If I do that, the content will appear on the left visually, even though in the code it still comes after the left side navigation.
Do either positions affect seo?
-
I would not worry about moving the code, I would use html5 elements to tell the search engine what is what. Such as
<header>
<nav>
<menu>
<aside></aside>
</menu>
</nav>
</header>
-
To follow up on what Holger said - you are not using CSS to do anything "tricky" to game Google. By placing the important content at the top your raw coded content is structured exactly as it should be. What you are doing is 100% legit and it could also be very easily be argued that you are improving the code from a structural standpoint.
-
I think you can test this issue best with a "Text-Only-Browser" to see how search engines see your page.
Here are some links:
If your page is already indexed with Google, put in the following URL:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:example.com
Google will show in the grey cache-info box a link "text-only-version"The Safari-Browser shows a "reader Icon" if there is a lot of text on a page...
Or you may check this link for more Text-Browsers: http://www.internetmarketingninjas.com/blog/seo-tools/5-text-only-browsers/Hope this helps!
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
-
Tags - Good or bad for SEO
We are getting Moz errors for duplicate content because tag pages share the same blog posts. Is there any way to fix this? Are these errors bad for SEO, or can I simply disregard these and ignore them? We are also getting Moz errors for missing descriptions on tag pages. I am unsure how to fix these errors, as we do not actually have pages for these on our WordPress site where we are able to put in a description. I have heard that having tags can be good for SEO? (We don't mind having several links that show up when searching for us on google...) As far as the SEO goes, I am not sure what to do. Does anyone know the best strategy?
On-Page Optimization | | Christinaa0 -
Do subfolders for grouping common services pages help SEO?
Hello, fellow MOZers. Here is the question: Is there any benefits/disadvantages of having pages, grouped by common type of service, to be put into subfolder with keyphrase-friendly phrase? Example: We have website https://www.hyperlinksmedia.com/ and several services under "SEO" niche, such as: SEO (page name seo-houston.php) Social Media Marketing (page name social-media-marketing-houston.php) Email Marketing (page name email-marketing-houston.php) So, is it better to have these pages in root directory like this: https://www.hyperlinksmedia.com**/seo-houston.php** https://www.hyperlinksmedia.com**/houston-social-media-marketing.php** https://www.hyperlinksmedia.com**/email-marketing-houston.php** OR is it better to group them in subfolder "houston-seo-services" for "extra" keyword and convenience reasons like this: https://www.hyperlinksmedia.com/houston-seo-services/seo-houston.php https://www.hyperlinksmedia.com/houston-seo-services/social-media-marketing-houston.php https://www.hyperlinksmedia.com/houston-seo-services/email-marketing-houston.php Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | seomozinator0 -
Lower case and SEO
Hi I have a client who wants his whole site to be in lower case with the exception of his company name. Absolutely everything. I just want to check whether or not this will effect the way Google sees the site? Does anyone have any idea? ........ and do you have any experience or data to support your views? Thank you PH
On-Page Optimization | | PH2920 -
Problem with Plugin: Wordpress SEO by Yoast
Hi Hi, I'm using the Plugin "Wordpress SEO by Yoast". Unfortunatelly, this plugin generates a sourcecode looking like this: name='description' content='XXXXXX.'/> Seomoz can't read this and tells me, that my pages have no description. Google doesn't matter and reads it correct. Is there anything I can do about this? Many greetings André
On-Page Optimization | | waynestock0 -
Can embedding videos from other sites help SEO?
I work for an eCommerce site and many of the vendors we get our products from have videos our their site that explain how the products work and the different features of them, ect. We really have done nothing with video marketing, and would like to create some of our own unique videos, but this will be impossible for the vast majority of the products on our site. We know from a content standpoint embedding videos from our vendors to our product pages will be beneficial, but at the same time it shows our competitors and other site visitors where we are getting our products from which we would rather not do. How will this effect us from an SEO standpoint though? Will it help us to have new content, even though it is embedded from another site? Or will it hurt us because it is not unique? Or will it have no effect at all? Thanks for you help!
On-Page Optimization | | ClaytonKendall0 -
SEO Change/Version Control
Hi. Can anyone suggest apps that might be applied for SEO change/version control? I've tried using Excel and Word in the past but both fall short when dealing with multiple client sites. Nothing suitable pops up so far. Specifically I want to be able to log any on-page changes that might impact SEO for historical analysis and possible roll-back (manual) eg change date, page title, headings, url, anchor text, alt image txt, body copy etc. The ability to have one view that can be filtered in various ways including by client and by url would be ideal. Maybe this is something SEOmoz is considering for Pro campaign management? Surely there's demand... Thanks Andy
On-Page Optimization | | Bluesnapper0 -
Is there a SEO penalty for multi links on same page going to same destination page?
Hi, Just a quick note. I hope you are able to assist. To cut a long story short, on the page below http://www.bookbluemountains.com.au/ -> Features Specials & Packages (middle column) we have 3 links per special going to the same page.
On-Page Optimization | | daveupton
1. Header is linked
2. Click on image link - currently with a no follow
3. 'More info' under the description paragraph is linked too - currently with a no follow Two arguments are as follows:
1. The reason we do not follow all 3 links is to reduce too many links which may appear spammy to Google. 2. Counter argument:
The point above has some validity, However, using no follow is basically telling the search engines that the webmaster “does not trust or doesn’t take responsibility” for what is behind the link, something you don’t want to do within your own website. There is no penalty as such for having too many links, the search engines will generally not worry after a certain number.. nothing that would concern this business though. I would suggest changing the no follow links a.s.a.p. Could you please advise thoughts. Many thanks Dave Upton [long signature removed by staff]0 -
Value of PDF's in SEO
I have a client who has a lot of information in PDF form. They think they should move some of it over into HTML pages so it indexes better. Is there a benefit to converting these PDF's into HTML pages? It seems to me that HTML pages would be good, IF they are relevant pages that could be used online.
On-Page Optimization | | lvstrickland0