Being compliant with industry Web standards is not only important for a Web site and its accessibility, but can also assist Search Engine Optimization (SEO) teams in creating a successful strategy. Many Web sites are currently not following these Web standards. This can include inappropriate use of deeply nested table layouts, “spaghetti code,” overused tags, and other redundancies such as gross overuse of inline styling and invalid use of HTML. These tactics not only create overly bloated file sizes, but also make updating sites globally or page-by-page much more time consuming for Web developers.
The same “spaghetti code” and other Web tactics mentioned above can also hinder any true SEO efforts; plus the costs associated could result in diminishing returns. Below is a list of the benefits of following Web Standards:
Why Web Standards? Some reasons to consider conforming to Web standards include:
1. Compliance – Building to section 508 standards (for disabled users) opens your site to more potential customers. It does not mean that the site has to be ugly. Rather, accessibility is something that happens under the hood, in the markup itself. The business case for accessibility is also strongly made. Think you can ignore blind users? Be prepared to be punished by Google, since GoogleBot is the most powerful blind user on the Web, sometimes referred to as the “Blind Billionaire.”
2. Cost Efficiency – Bandwidth costs are reduced, as well as maintenance and future overhauls (because the code is separated from the presentation).
3. Time Efficiency – Updates are easier.
4. Forward Compatibility and Validation – When you build with valid Web standards you ensure that your site will be compatible in the future. Valid code also renders faster than invalid code.
5. Support multiple browsers – No matter the platform or the browser, Web standards are supported.
6. Support non-traditional devices – Mobile devices, game consoles and the like will all be able to access your page.
7. Printer Friendly - Deliver sophisticated printed versions of any page, often without creating separate “printer-friendly” pages.
Avenue A | Razorfish often recommends implementing Web standards to help reduce bandwidth across client websites, which increases ease-of-use and updates drastically, thus saving the client money. These “white hat” SEO tactics help the AA|RF SEO teams in building successful SEO strategies for clients. The most known and reliable resource for discovering more about Web standards has an will likely continue to be the W3C, or World Wide Web Consortium.
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First reported in May by Vecosys’ Sam Sethi, and confirmed by TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, Google has now acquired the RSS management company FeedBurner for a reported $100 million. The official information page about the deal can be found here. Industry reaction has ranged from “scary” to concerned and has raised questions about the Yahoo! and MSN reactions, including murmurs that Technorati may be next. Search Engine Land has initial and subsequent coverage of the deal.
With RSS use continuing to increase, Google may look to expand its AdSense network to include the ability to serve ads within RSS feeds. This could potentially help mitigate the effect of RSS users who prefer to read blog posts and articles in their readers and never actually venture onto the originating sites. While it is clear from Google’s FAQ page on this deal that feed-based content and advertising is their primary reason for the acquisition, FeedBurner’s ability to track RSS feeds and subscriptions would certainly make an interesting addition to the Google Analytics platform.
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Yahoo! Makes Major Change to Content Ads’ Click Cost Structure –Yahoo! Search marketing has incorporated a new cost system for advertisers using their contextual network. According to their introduction to the new “Quality-Based Pricing,” “As part of the evolution of the Yahoo! Search Marketing advertising system, we now attempt to take into account the quality of the source of our partners’ traffic when you are charged for a click from that source.” SMTrends will provide more information and analysis next week, but in the meantime the topic has been discussed at Website Magazine, and is specifically relevant to Yahoo!’s recent steps to fight Click Fraud. Also: See Yahoo! Blog.
China Search Competition Heating Up - SMTrends will provide more detail on this topic soon, but the Chinese search landscape underwent a significant change recently as Google began to incorporate its logo, and eventually some results, within the Chinese portal Soso. Search Engine Journal first reported this change, which was further covered at TechCrunch. In related news, Search Engine Land has reported that Chinese Search Engine giant Baidu is moving into Europe.
SMTrends Editor Publishing Expert Column at Search Engine Watch Blog - Chris Boggs, the Editor of SMTrends and a Search Strategist in the Philadelphia offices of AA|RF has been invited by Search Engine Watch to provide a bi-weekly column about Agency SEO life, called “Outsourced.” Archived articles and RSS Subscriptions are available at SEW, with the next installment due this Friday. (As an FYI, SMTrends is moving towards RSS functionality soon.)
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