undefined
Skip to content
Moz logo Menu open Menu close
  • Products
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Pro Home
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Home
    • STAT
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Home
    • Compare SEO Products
    • Moz Data
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis
    • Keyword Explorer
    • Link Explorer
    • Competitive Research
    • MozBar
    • More Free SEO Tools
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
    • SEO Learning Center
    • Moz Academy
    • SEO Q&A
    • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Agency Solutions
    • Enterprise Solutions
    • Small Business Solutions
    • Case Studies
    • The Moz Story
    • New Releases
  • Log in
  • Log out
  • Products
    • Moz Pro

      Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

    • Moz Local

      Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

    • STAT

      SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

    • Moz API

      Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

    • Compare SEO Products

      See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

    • Moz Data

      Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis

      Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

    • Keyword Explorer

      Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

    • Link Explorer

      Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

    • Competitive Research

      Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

    • MozBar

      See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

    • More Free SEO Tools

      Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO

      The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

    • SEO Learning Center

      Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

    • On-Demand Webinars

      Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

    • How-To Guides

      Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

    • Moz Academy

      Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

    • SEO Q&A

      Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
    Moz API

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

    Find your plan
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Small Business Solutions

      Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

    • Agency Solutions

      Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

    • Enterprise Solutions

      Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

    • The Moz Story

      Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

    • Case Studies

      Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

    • New Releases

      Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

    Surface actionable competitive intel
    New Feature

    Surface actionable competitive intel

    Learn More
  • Log in
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Dashboard
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Dashboard
    • Moz Academy
  • Avatar
    • Moz Home
    • Notifications
    • Account & Billing
    • Manage Users
    • Community Profile
    • My Q&A
    • My Videos
    • Log Out

The Moz Q&A Forum

  • Forum
  • Questions
  • Users
  • Ask the Community

Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

  1. Home
  2. SEO Tactics
  3. Intermediate & Advanced SEO
  4. Quick Question: Is it Bad for SEO to paste from Word to your CMS?

Moz Q&A is closed.

After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

Quick Question: Is it Bad for SEO to paste from Word to your CMS?

Intermediate & Advanced SEO
4
10
1.4k
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as question
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
  • keL.A.xT.o
    keL.A.xT.o last edited by Sep 4, 2014, 6:56 PM

    Hey just a quick question I'm having trouble finding a definitive answer to:

    Is the markup that is transferred from Word docs bad for SEO? We are managing to paste it and it looks fine, but the developers are worried that the extra code will be bad for SEO. Does anyone have solution besides pasting into Text Editor and formatting in the CMS? Is this necessary or can we just leave the extra code?

    Thank you!

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • WebMarkets
      WebMarkets last edited by Sep 4, 2014, 7:41 PM Sep 4, 2014, 7:41 PM

      If you are using a great CMS, like DNN, you have the ability to paste as plain text. Then, style the html accordingly. If you dont, prepare to create a lot of junk code and span tags.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • keL.A.xT.o
        keL.A.xT.o last edited by Sep 4, 2014, 7:34 PM Sep 4, 2014, 7:34 PM

        ok thanks guys

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • chrissmithps
          chrissmithps @keL.A.xT.o last edited by Sep 4, 2014, 7:33 PM Sep 4, 2014, 7:31 PM

          Yer it's best not to bloat your HTML with to many Spans etc just have the relevant HTML tags. Try the technique that Chris above mentioned.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • Chris.Menke
            Chris.Menke @keL.A.xT.o last edited by Sep 4, 2014, 7:28 PM Sep 4, 2014, 7:28 PM

            You don't want it on your html page.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
            • keL.A.xT.o
              keL.A.xT.o @Chris.Menke last edited by Sep 4, 2014, 7:26 PM Sep 4, 2014, 7:26 PM

              But in your opinion, is that bloat a problem if it doesn't cause any visual issues?

              Chris.Menke chrissmithps 2 Replies Last reply Sep 4, 2014, 7:31 PM Reply Quote 0
              • keL.A.xT.o
                keL.A.xT.o @chrissmithps last edited by Sep 4, 2014, 7:25 PM Sep 4, 2014, 7:25 PM

                Thanks for the quick response. I think I understood right.  So you think this would be invisible:

                Friday, January 23 vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

                Right now we're pasting from the Google Doc to CMS visual editor , and the above is what appears in the text editor. Are all of those and **tags going to be a problem? Or if it appears fine in the visual editor is it safe to leave it as is? We have a lot to paste in and it's already formatted in a Google Doc so i'm trying to save a lot of work. **

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • chrissmithps
                  chrissmithps @Chris.Menke last edited by Sep 4, 2014, 7:15 PM Sep 4, 2014, 7:15 PM

                  I didn't know about that in Word thanks for that advice as well Chris !

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Chris.Menke
                    Chris.Menke last edited by Sep 4, 2014, 7:33 PM Sep 4, 2014, 7:10 PM

                    keL.A.xT.o

                    Give this a try: While you have your Word doc open,  open a new document--but rather than opening a new Word doc, select File | New | Blog Post (and select "register later" if it asks you to open an online account).  Then, copy from your word doc into the blog post, and then, copy and past from the blog post into your CMS.  It should keep your formatting without all the additional Word coding bloat.

                    chrissmithps keL.A.xT.o 2 Replies Last reply Sep 4, 2014, 7:26 PM Reply Quote 2
                    • chrissmithps
                      chrissmithps last edited by Sep 4, 2014, 7:06 PM Sep 4, 2014, 7:06 PM

                      I would recommend pasting the Word text into the text editor built into the CMS unless it has a specific import from Word option like in Wordpress.

                      It can add random bits of text and code, it may not also wrap text in

                      tags so Google may not detect that paragraph of text, the same applies for headings such as

                      and

                      . You can still usually revert back to the visual editor after pasting the code into the text editor mode if you want to format it.

                      keL.A.xT.o 1 Reply Last reply Sep 4, 2014, 7:25 PM Reply Quote 0
                      • 1 / 1
                      1 out of 10
                      • First post
                        1/10
                        Last post

                      Got a burning SEO question?

                      Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                      Start my free trial


                      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.

                      • See all categories

                      Related Questions

                      • angelamaemae

                        Kind of duplicate categories and custom taxonomy. Necessary, but bad for SEO?

                        Hello Everyone! I'm new here! My husband and I are working on creating a website: https://sacwellness.com .The site is an online therapist directory for the the Sacramento California area. Our problem is this: In wordpress our category system is being used for blog posts. Our theme is using a custom taxonomy system to categorize different therapist specialties, therapeutic approaches, etc. We've found ourselves in a position where our custom taxonomy and categories are near duplicates. for example we have the blog categories: ADHD counseling, Anxiety therapy, and Career counseling our corresponding custom taxonomy/therapist categories are: ADHD, Anxiety, and....(oops) career counseling. My understanding is that google doesn't see a difference between identically named categories and custom taxonomies and will so choose one to rank and disregard the other, effectively leaving you competing against yourself. is this true in a case like this? Can google maybe understand the difference because of the custom taxonomy and/or URL paths? if this is a problem is it ok to have near duplicates....like ADHD vs. ADHD counseling. This has been our solution so far....but now we're questioning it....derp x_x. I thought about tagging the categories with no index, but I think the archive pages would be useful for people. Essentially we have 2 sets of archives for each keyword. One is for blog posts, and one is for therapists who work with that particular issue along with the 6 most recent blog posts in that category.....because we are putting the 6 most recent blog posts at the bottom of the therapist pages I feel like it wouldn't be as terrible of a loss if we had to noindex the category pages. ....what do you think? Thank you!

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Nov 3, 2018, 1:44 PM | angelamaemae
                        0
                      • Chris8198

                        Lightboxes and SEO

                        Do lightboxes (AKA popup boxes when you click "learn more" type CTAs) have any negative effect on SEO? We are looking at revamping our sites to have more of a tiled approach, and a lightbox with summary content popping out with additional CTAs, directing to pages with more information or free trial pages. Is there any downside to this approach from an organic perspective? is there anything specific to keep in mind when creating these if not?

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Oct 20, 2017, 1:30 PM | Chris8198
                        0
                      • Eric_Lifescript

                        Bad SEO Practice: in title tag?

                        Greetings, I just discovered that some of our content was produced with
                        tags in the title tag. Example: <title>Diabetes Symptoms <br> In Women Over 40</title> My gut says this is bad for SEO, but I couldn't find a definitive answer on the web, so I thought I would ask the community of gurus here at Moz. 🙂 Thanks in advance for any reply. Kind regards, Eric

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Mar 22, 2016, 11:23 PM | Eric_Lifescript
                        0
                      • seoman10

                        CDN for SEO (or not)?

                        Does CDN impact on SEO or not? There seems conflicting ideas as to whether they impact positively or negatively, I realise that if the page loads quicker this is a good thing for SEO and usability of course. Does Google see CDN as just cheating and a get-around for not doing the work from the ground up and using good hosting etc? Do you have any direct experience? All constructive input much appreciated!

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Oct 1, 2015, 10:00 AM | seoman10
                        1
                      • TheaterMania

                        Is tabbed content bad for SEO?

                        I work for a Theater show listings and ticketing website. In our show listings pages (e.g. http://www.theatermania.com/broadway/this-is-our-youth_302998/) we split our content into separate tabs (overview, pricing and show dates, cast, and video). Are we shooting ourselves in the foot by separating the content? Are we better served with keeping it all in a single page? Thanks so much!

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Apr 9, 2015, 5:49 AM | TheaterMania
                        0
                      • OptiBacUK

                        How does badly formatted HTML affect SEO?

                        Our website uses a custom built CMS, but uses a fairly standard WYSIWYG text editor. I've looked at some of the code it produces, and it's not pretty. My gut feeling tells me that this extra bloat is bad for SEO. Am I right in thinking that Google doesn't look kindly upon badly formatted and bloated HTML? Thanks,
                        James

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Sep 20, 2012, 9:09 AM | OptiBacUK
                        0
                      • AdeLewis

                        Is DOCTYPE important for SEO?

                        Hello fellow Mozzers. I am just having a brief look at a potential clients website before speaking to them tomorrow and whilst looking at the source I noticed that they don't appear to have a clear definition for their Doctype. All the have at the top of each page is I have to admit that Doctypes aren't my strong point but I know that they are normally slightly more descriptive than this. Can this have any effect on rankings? or is this just an issue for W3C validation? Thanks 🙂

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Dec 12, 2011, 7:49 PM | AdeLewis
                        0
                      • Peter264

                        Does font size affect SEO?

                        In the eyes of Google, would the font text size of say a news article affect SEO?  For example, a slightly larger font being easier to read by those with bad eyes?  Accessibility?  If so, what size would be ideal? 10, 12, 14? Your thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Jul 17, 2011, 3:39 PM | Peter264
                        0

                      Get started with Moz Pro!

                      Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                      Start my free trial
                      Products
                      • Moz Pro
                      • Moz Local
                      • Moz API
                      • Moz Data
                      • STAT
                      • Product Updates
                      Moz Solutions
                      • SMB Solutions
                      • Agency Solutions
                      • Enterprise Solutions
                      Free SEO Tools
                      • Domain Authority Checker
                      • Link Explorer
                      • Keyword Explorer
                      • Competitive Research
                      • Brand Authority Checker
                      • Local Citation Checker
                      • MozBar Extension
                      • MozCast
                      Resources
                      • Blog
                      • SEO Learning Center
                      • Help Hub
                      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                      • How-to Guides
                      • Moz Academy
                      • API Docs
                      About Moz
                      • About
                      • Team
                      • Careers
                      • Contact
                      Why Moz
                      • Case Studies
                      • Testimonials
                      Get Involved
                      • Become an Affiliate
                      • MozCon
                      • Webinars
                      • Practical Marketer Series
                      • MozPod
                      Connect with us

                      Contact the Help team

                      Join our newsletter
                      Moz logo
                      © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                      • Accessibility
                      • Terms of Use
                      • Privacy

                      Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.