{"id":5178,"date":"2023-06-29T20:55:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T20:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/?p=5178"},"modified":"2023-06-29T20:55:02","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T20:55:02","slug":"its-not-a-ranking-factor-but-its-still-important","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/?p=5178","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s not a ranking factor, but it&#8217;s still important"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p>In a recent video, Google&#8217;s John Mueller answered a question about how semantic HTML helps search engines understand website content.<\/p>\n<p>Mueller discussed how semantic HTML affects a site&#8217;s SEO, accessibility, and search rankings.<\/p>\n<p>But first, let&#8217;s define semantic HTML and how it works.<\/p>\n<h2>Semantic HTML 101<\/h2>\n<p>Semantic HTML elements provide meaning and structure to web content.<\/p>\n<p>It helps search engines and browsers better understand the content and relationships of the page.<\/p>\n<p>Some common semantic elements include the following:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Headings<\/strong> are used to denote importance and create hierarchy. <\/p>\n<h1> is the most important <\/p>\n<h6> is the least<br \/>\n<strong>paragraphs<\/strong> are used to represent blocks of text.  The <\/p>\n<p> element defines a paragraph.<br \/><strong>lists<\/strong> are used to organize elements. <\/p>\n<ul> i <\/p>\n<ol> create ordered and unordered lists respectively. <\/p>\n<li> defines a list item.<br \/>\n<strong>tables<\/strong> structure the tabular data. <\/p>\n<table> create a table, <\/p>\n<tr> define rows, <\/p>\n<th> define column headers and <\/p>\n<td> define the data cells.<br \/>\n<strong>links<\/strong> or anchors (<a>) create hyperlinks between pages.  They help show connections between content.<br \/>\n<strong>images<\/strong> (<img>) represent photographs or graphics.  The alt attribute provides a text description of the image, which helps with accessibility and SEO.<br \/>\n<strong>articles<\/strong> (<\/p>\n<article>) represent independent, reusable content, such as blog posts or news.<br \/>\n<strong>sections<\/strong> (<\/p>\n<section>) groups together related content, such as chapters or parts of a document.<br \/>\n<strong>aside<\/strong> (<\/p>\n<aside>) include content tangentially related to the main content, such as sidebars.<br \/>\n<strong>figures<\/strong> (<\/p>\n<figure> i<figcaption>) represent an image, diagram, or illustration, along with a title.  They show the relationship between the media and the text that surrounds it.<\/p>\n<h2>Semantic HTML: A Ranking Factor?<\/h2>\n<p>While semantic HTML helps search engines analyze page content and structure, it&#8217;s not a direct ranking factor, Mueller clarifies:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Semantic HTML helps to understand a page. However, it is not a magic multiplier for increasing a website&#8217;s ranking.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While semantic HTML may not immediately increase rankings, it improves SEO and accessibility and remains a fundamental best practice.<\/p>\n<p>Using it, you can optimize for search engines while creating an optimal user experience.<\/p>\n<h2>How Semantic HTML Benefits Google<\/h2>\n<p>Using semantic HTML elements correctly can help with SEO in the following ways:<\/p>\n<p>Have headings to structure passages of text Put images next to words that are relevant to them Use table tags for tables of data, not just to position content Have anchor links instead of links that work through JavaScript<\/p>\n<p>Mueller points out that Google&#8217;s algorithms are not very accurate about similar items.<\/p>\n<p>For example, when grouping sections of text, Google treats section, article, and div elements the same.  The particular element used is less important than having a clear structure and relationship between the elements.<\/p>\n<h2>How semantic HTML benefits people<\/h2>\n<p>Semantic HTML greatly improves the experience of users of different backgrounds, including those with disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>It does this in the following ways:<\/p>\n<p>Semantic HTML helps screen reader software deliver web content to blind or visually impaired users.  Semantic HTML ensures keyboard navigability.  Elements like `<a>` links and `<input>`\/`<button>Forms can be accessed using keyboard controls, which help users with motor disabilities.  Assistive technologies such as Braille readers and text-to-speech software benefit from the clear structure and meaning of semantic HTML.  Semantic elements facilitate responsive web design, ensuring content is accessible across multiple devices.  Future-proof semantic HTML content by adhering to web standards.  This means that all users will likely be able to access the content even as technology advances.<\/p>\n<p>Developers can create web content that humans and machines understand by following semantic HTML principles, resulting in an inclusive web experience.<\/p>\n<h2>Mueller&#8217;s plea to website owners<\/h2>\n<p>Mueller concludes the video with a plea to website owners to use semantic HTML even though it&#8217;s not a direct ranking factor.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Please use semantic HTML. It&#8217;s not a ranking factor, but it can help our systems better understand your content.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>source<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5HtRKM4ILGc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Search Central<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Featured Image: Screenshot from YouTube.com\/GoogleSearchCentral, June 2023. <\/p>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/semantic-html-not-a-ranking-factor-but-still-important\/490436\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a recent video, Google&#8217;s John Mueller answered a question about how semantic HTML helps search engines understand website content. Mueller discussed how semantic HTML affects a site&#8217;s SEO, accessibility, and search rankings. But first, let&#8217;s define semantic HTML and how it works. Semantic HTML 101 Semantic HTML elements provide meaning and structure to web content. It helps search engines and browsers better understand the content and relationships of the page. Some common semantic elements&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5178"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5180,"href":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5178\/revisions\/5180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/afreeurl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}