HTML 5 and SEO
Posted by owen | Filed under Business SEO
So if you work in SEO you’re probably more than aware of the new HTML5 format and the variety of new tags this has introduced (not to be confused with Microformats which I will be covering soon). With all the buzz surrounding this the question that many forget to ask is will the search engines actually pay attention to this. And by the search engines what I really mean is Google.
First off Google loves HTML 5, they have already dropped Gears and said go HTML 5, go! However this does not necessarily mean they will be sharing that attitude when it comes to their search product.
Google knows that if they start relying on a factor which is easily manipulated and not widely used that could be a recipe for disaster. They have to look at not only could how this be used but how could it be exploited from a Blackhat perspective.
Working with big brands I see some awful bits of web design. That’s not to say that every brand website is bad, but a lot of them are. Especially big B2B sites, which usually are stuck in about 1995 (OK slight exaggeration!). These are slowly being dragged into the 21st century but will these be getting updated with HTML 5 anytime soon? I doubt it.
Google sees brands as the way to keep the search results clear, that’s why things like authority is such an important factor in the rankings. That’s also why Google structures its algorithm so that the most trusted result will be shown over the most relevant. With this in mind I personally don’t think that Google will be relying on HTML 5 tags anytime soon as they know that they can’t rely on the big brands to implement them.
This is just my speculation so I wouldn’t go taking this to the bank as it were, but feel free to add your two cents to the mix.