Do you validate you websites?
-
Do you consider the guidelines from http://validator.w3.org/ when setting up a new website?
As far as I know they don't influence rankings ... What is your opinion about that topix?
-
I am with you on this. Good to check for any issues. Before focusing on SEO, functionality if my main concern.
-
I always validate HTML with sites I'm working on, particularly if has been coded by a third party. My reasons for doing so are a careful balance between ensuring spiders can crawl the page without bumping hideous html errors and ensuring a website is accessible on as many devices/browsers.
If the webpage doesn't adhere to standards it could indicate issues with viewing the pages correctly in the myriad of browsers and devices out there. So theres a User Experience issue to consider.
-
It depends on the project. I find that it is sometimes plugins that make my code not validate. If the plugin is so useful and that site renders fine in all the major browsers, I stick with the what I have, even if it doesn't validate.
-
We don't bother, I know we probably should but half of the sites we work on are CMS which just don't validate well anyway. Plus it takes time, which could be spent on more SEO
-
Like I said.... Google doesn't validate their website... Of course, Danny answered this question for Matt, sooooo.... there is no official statement from Google on this one.
-
New webmaster video from Matt Cutts about that topic:
-
I find the w3 validator to be more of an accolade than anything else. You're right about them not influencing rankings - there's so many practices that don't validate but actually lead to an unchanged or even improved UX.
IMO, getting w3 validation is like getting MozPoints, except MozPoints are worth something
But that's not to say I'm knocking anyone who does follow validator guidelines - fair play to them!
-
Sure.
We do it because it's a great sales tool. Rarely do we ever find a competitor that builds W3C valid websites. In our sales pitch we talk about how our websites are W3C valid, it's adhering to a set of rules and guidelines and it's cleaner code generally which can increase load times.
We tell them they can display a W3C valid button on their site, most of them like that.
It's also a matter of doing things the right way... you can build a frame out of anything but there is a right way and a wrong way to build a door frame. We choose to do it all according to standards and best practices.
It's almost like a committment to excellence type of thing.
-
Hi David, thank you for your reply.
Would you mind sharing your arguments why you find it is important? I would be curious how many pros you find - I like your point of view.
-
It's very important to my company that all websites for our clients validate. Why? Because we feel they pay for a service and we want to provide the highest quality service.
It's like building a house and not sticking to code. We'd rather stick to code and do it the "right" way, rather than just have something that "works".
It's also a sales tool! Because none of our competitors build sites that are compliant, our sales guys use this and it works well. We explain what W3C is, why it's important, and although it doesn't help rankings, we feel it's important because it's simply a matter of doing it the right way. They like that!
-
I don't validate my website... but neither does Google.
-
I don't think it effects rankings, but perhaps the ability to be crawled. It is also good practice for the user when visiting the site. As with most SEOs today, we are not just responsible for getting to the page, but making sure they stay on the site and convert. : )
-
I have one guy in the company who is obsessed with it so no matter what I do he will go back and ensure we comply! I've seen at least one W3C nazi in each web company I have had a chance to work with
-
Even though w3c errors will not influence SEO directly there could be instances where some CSS issues could impact page speed resulting in slower spider crawls causing page speed ranking influence. We do tend to look at these reports once every quarter.
-
To use Google or any of its websites as an SEO example is by itself a mistake
-
lol - yes the resamblance is remarkable! That's the name of my boss :-).
It would be interesting if there were 2 exact same websites with just minor differences which causes some validation issues ... if the one without "faults" would rank better.
I think I even remember that Matt Cutts once said that this is not a ranking factor. Even if you put in google.com in the validator - you get several faults.
The "normal" person who looks at the webpage doesn't care either which faults are indicated in the background. So whom should I please with a w3c.org clean website? I suppose "just" to have a proper webpage....
-
Personally it is not my first worry.
But to run a validation check up doesn't cost a lot of time, so I usually do it. If it finds red marked problems, I solve them. But I don't get crazy with the many less important ones.
-
Hehehe... this old profiles database give weird result.
-
Hansj, you look remarkably like Petra!
As a former designer wannabe, I would always shoot for validation if possible. But since concentrating more on SEO issues these days, like you, I personally don't think it affects rankings.
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
-
Moz crawler is not able to crawl my website
Hi, i need help regarding Moz Can't Crawl Your Site i also share screenshot that Moz was unable to crawl your site on Mar 26, 2022. Our crawler was not able to access the robots.txt file on your site. This often occurs because of a server error from the robots.txt. Although this may have been caused by a temporary outage, we recommend making sure your robots.txt file is accessible and that your network and server are working correctly. Typically errors like this should be investigated and fixed by the site webmaster.
Technical SEO | | JasonTorney
my robts.txt also ok i checked it
Here is my website https://whiskcreative.com.au
just check it please as soon as possibe0 -
My android website not showing on results
my website will index good،and its top on some few keywords but its not top for many keywords . << some time it showed on results but will be hidden after some time >> what you thing??? url is https://android-apk.org
Technical SEO | | moztabliq10 -
Consolidate Multiple Sites Into Brand Website
Hi Moz Community, I am looking for some advice and/or guidance on consolidating multiple sites into the brand website. At the moment, we have our brand website as well as keyword matching/topic matching websites for each service. (Note: We're a professional services firm). The service websites do rank well for their keywords, but it's my hope that the single brand website will create a more unified presence on search. We have just about completed our re-design (consolidating the service websites into the brand website), but before going live, I wanted to reach out to the Moz communtiy to seek advice on things like 301 redirects, submitting sitemaps, etc. This is the first time I am consolidating existing websites into an existing website, so it's a little daunting. Thanks Tim
Technical SEO | | AinsleyAgency0 -
Will Google crawl and rank our ReactJS website content?
We have 250+ products dynamically inserted and sorted on our site daily (more specifically our homepage... yes, it's a long page). Our dev team would like to explore rendering the page server-side using ReactJS. We currently use a CDN to cache all the content, which of course we would like to continue using. SO... will Google be able to crawl that content? We've read some articles with different ideas (including prerendering): http://andrewhfarmer.com/react-seo/
Technical SEO | | Jane.com
http://www.seoskeptic.com/json-ld-big-day-at-google/ If we were to only load the schema important to the page (like product title, image, price, description, etc.) from the server and then let the client render the remaining content (comments, suggested products, etc.), would that go against best practices? It seems like that might be seen as showing the googlebot 1 version and showing the site visitor a different (more complete) version.0 -
Best practice around removing large section of the website
We are looking at removing a large section of our website that is getting low/no traffic. My current thought of removing this would be to delete the pages and add 301 redirects to a similar page within the site that is not being deleted. This will be removing 400+ pages, does it this make sense? Or should we point them to the homepage? Finally should we do this in one batch or should we slowly remove the pages over the course of a couple weeks. Thanks - appreciate the help in understanding the best practice in terms of SEO.
Technical SEO | | webactive0 -
Changing IP adress of Website will impact on ranking or not?
Hello, We have TLDs as below:
Technical SEO | | CommercePundit
bannerbuzz.combannerbuzz.co.uk
bannerbuzz.com.au
bannerbuzz.ca Within few days, We are moving in Magento Technology for 2 domains,
Bannerbuzz.com.au and Bannerbuzz.co.uk We have purchased new plan, So IP address of those 2 domains will be changed. So my question is, It will impact on my current Ranking or not?0 -
How do I resolve Twin domains? redirect website.com to www.website.com?
I am new to this website. Tried to run a campain and got a warning that website.com resolves to www.website.com which hinders SERP by competing for Keyword indexing!. (website is my domain name) Would appreciate help with this. Thanks. S.H. PS: here is the exact wording of error : We have detected that the domain www.yfvaccine.com and the domain yfvaccine.com both respond to web requests and do not redirect. Having two "twin" domains that both resolve forces them to battle for SERP positions, making your SEO efforts less effective. We suggest redirecting one, then entering the other here.
Technical SEO | | sherohass0 -
Does redesigning the website effects the SEO?
What are the precautions to be taken in redesigning the website ? do it effect on link building? I am planing to re design my website, most of the Keywords are already optimized by Google, and i have given many back links to it . After redesigning my website will it get effected? Kindly answer my question
Technical SEO | | PrasanthMohanachandran0