Web Standards and SEO

I just read an interesting post at the Mike Davidson blog about Web Standards and Search Engine Optimization. (Mike? If you read this, please notice that I just did my bit to help boost your site above drummer Mike Portnoy’s site.) Though admittedly unscientific, and not taking some other stuff into account, like Aging being a SERP factor, it does show that a well coded site does have at least a small bit of edge above one that isn’t, though not as much as us few compliant coders would wish.

One thing this article points to strongly is the extreme importance of the title tag. Not including it, malforming it, or misusing it could be the kiss of death.

The comments are as interesting a read as the article itself, and include insights from many of the top people in the business, including Danny Sullivan. Also a funny one by the guy who coded the tag soup that passes for Mike Portnoy’s website. Even better, someone registered the name lodefizzle.com and stuck up a test page to “continue” the test.

Bottom line is that you want to give your site every edge you can. QUALITY incoming links are the most important SERP factor. Any other leg up, such as kickass original content, properly formed code, title tags, metas, keyword density, etc. helps push you up that extra notch over all those tag soup sites out there.

Technorati Tags: SEO, Web Standards, Tag Soup, Mike Davidson, Danny Sullivan, Mike Portnoy