Apr
13

How will HTML5 change SEO?

I’m sure you’ve heard the buzz about html5, and you may be wondering how this is going to affect seo. As a SEO expert, you are most likely interested mainly in those changes in the HTML 5 specification, which will affect your work. Here are some of them:

  • Improved page segmentation. Search engines are getting smarter and there are many reasons to believe that even now they are applying page segmentation. Basically, page segmentation means that a page is divided into several separate parts (i.e. main content, menus, headers, footers, links sections, etc.) and these parts are treated as separate entries. At present, there is no way for a Web master to tell search engines how to segment a page but this is bound to change in HTML 5.
  • A new <article> tag. The new <article> tag is probably the best addition from a SEO point of view. The <article> tag allows to mark separate entries in an online publication, such as a blog or a magazine. It is expected that when articles are marked with the <article> tag, this will make the HTML code cleaner because it will reduce the need to use <div> tags. Also, probably search engines will put more weight on the text inside the <article> tag as compared to the contents on the other parts of the page.
  • A new <section> tag. The new <section> tag can be used to identify separate sections on a page, chapter, book. The advantage is that each section can have its separate HTML heading. As with the <article> tag, it can be presumed that search engines will pay more attention to the contents of separate sections. For instance, if the words of a search string are found in one section, this implies higher relevance as compared to when these words are found all across the page or in separate sections.
  • A new <header> tag. The new <header> tag (which is different from the head element) is a blessing for SEO experts because it gives a lot of flexibility. The <header> tag is very similar to the <H1> tag but the difference is that it can contain a lot of stuff, such as H1, H2, H3 elements, whole paragraphs of text, hard–coded links (and this is really precious for SEO), and any other kind of info you feel relevant to include.
  • A new <footer> tag. The <footer> tag might not be as useful as the <header> one but still it allows to include important information there and it can be used for SEO purposes as well. The <header> and <footer> tags can be used many times on one page – i.e. you can have a separate header/footer for each section and this gives really a lot of flexibility.
  • A new <nav> tag. Navigation is one of the important factors for SEO and everything that eases navigation is welcome. The new <nav> tag can be used to identify a collection of links to other pages.

As you see, the new tags follow the common structure of a standard page and each of the parts (i.e. header, footer, main section) has a separate tag. The tags we described here, are just some (but certainly not all) of the new tags in HTML 5, which will affect SEO in some way. For instance, <audio>, <video> or <dialogue> tags are also part of the HTML 5 standard and they will allow to further separate the content into the adequate categories. There are many other tags but they are of relatively lower importance and that is why they are not discussed.

For now HTML 5 is still far in the future. When more pages become HTML 5–compliant, search engines will pay more attention to HTML 5. Only then it will be possible to know how exactly search engines will treat HTML 5 pages. The mass adoption of HTML 5 won’t happen soon and it is a safe bet to say that for now you can keep to HTML 4 and have no concerns. Additionally, it will take some time for browsers to adjust to HTML 5, which further delays the moment when HTML 5 will be everywhere.

However, once HTML 5 is accepted and put to use, it will be the dominating standard for the years to come and that is why you might want to keep an eye on what other web masters are doing, just to make sure that you will not miss the moment when HTML 5 becomes the defacto standard.

From webconfs.com

If you’d like to see the capabilities of html5, here are some great demo sites by Google, and Apple:

http://www.youtube.com/html5

http://www.html5rocks.com/

http://slides.html5rocks.com/

http://studio.html5rocks.com/

http://www.apple.com/html5/

Written by cs702inc. Posted in AltaVista, Bing, Facebook, Google, SEO

Tags: , , , , , ,

Trackback from your site.

Most Recent Testimonials

  • "CyberStampede has done a tremendous job at moving us to the top of Search Engine Rankings. More importantly, they have helped our business with brand recognition and helped increase our profits."

    Glenn King,
    President
    MeanBitch Productions

    Read more...

  • We did not know how important SEO and social media services were until we witnessed the results achieved by Rodney Thompson, CEO/Founder of Cyber Stampede Inc. Prior to working with Rodney, we squandered away thousands of dollars while we aimlessly attempted to get higher search engine rankings."

    Elise Rosemarin
    Co-Founder, Moody Mamas Inc.

    Read more...

  • "Working with Rodney at CyberStampede to meet search marketing goals is a pleasure. Rodney helped us achieve authoritative organic rankings on Google and Bing for a variety of well-chosen search terms. A must-hire!"

    Scott, Chief Operating Officer
    ShopDeepThroat.com and Deep Throat Digital

    Read more...

  • "Cyber Stampede has provided SEO related services for Scores Media Group since 2009 and has achieved significant progress in getting us first page placement for relevant target terms organically in the major Search Engines."

    Harry Yioves,
    President
    Scores Media Group

    Read more...

  • "FourStar Auto Glass has used Cyber Stampede's SEO & social media services since 2009. Search Engine Optimization is a crucial element in any company's web campaign, and we couldn't be more pleased with the results that Rodney and Cyber Stampede have produced."

    Jonathan Loonin,
    Consultant

    4starglass.com

    Read more...

  • "Rodney Thompson of CyberStampede.com has provided SEO services and solutions for TDM LLC. For going on over a year now and we have seen our adult business's organic SEO traffic/placement for Playgirltv.com & Playgirl.com increase dramatically."

    Amy Kehoe,
    Marketing Director
    Playgirl

    Read more...

  • "Cyber Stampede has been vital in growing the web presence of my law practice and attracting targeted customers to my site. Since hiring Cyber Stampede, I have received a steady stream of new clients from around the world who found me via my website."

    Richard E. Grayson

    www.richardgraysonesq.com

    Read more...

  • "It has been an absolute pleasure to work with CyberStampede. Your services are of the highest quality and the manner in which you carry them out is extremely professional."

    Tim Henning | Executive Director | ASACP

    www.asacp.org

    Read more...

  • "What you have done for our adult business has been nothing short of incredible. With the way competition is in the adult industry these days.. its great to see us rank so highly in searches engines!!

    Thank you so very much for your input, understanding and fulfilling our needs in all departments. Traffic to our websites is growing and growing!!"

    Claire Flaherty,
    Online Marketing Director
    Private Media Group

    Read more...

  • "We have seen a direct impact on our numbers after implementing Cyber Stampede's SEO recommendations. I was impressed by the quality of their service and the availability of their staff; they definitely know what they're doing! I would recommend them anytime!"

    Magalie, Director of development for Famedollars
    Gamma Entertainment

    Read more...