Hungerford Web Design Blog

Standards Compliance

This is a wider issue than just SEO. Writing compliant code can make sure that your site is accessible to those with impairment(s), your site is visible in a large number of browsers (including text browsers) and shows a level of commitment to quality for starters.

Your markup (HTML/XHTML) being compliant ensures that any robots crawling your site do not end up confused and therefore portraying your site in a negative light. This includes correctly using heading tags (h1, h2, h3, h4), correctly spacing your paragraphs (p) etc etc. Heading tags are particularly important as many search engines place a greater weighting on keywords which are placed in heading tags so consider your tags carefully.

Validation

There are a number of different types of validation:

• Syntax - Many development tools will check the syntax of your code. Syntax checking validates the correctness of your code. For example, if you wish to open a tag such as h1, the syntax checker will confirm that this tag has then been closed correctly amongst other things. The w3 validator linked from this site includes a level of syntax checking.
• Compliance - Compliance validation is the most related to this post. It describes the validation of your page or site against the agreed standards you have developed towards. These include HTML 4, XHTML 1.0 and XHTML 1.1. There are also some variations within such as Transitional (The most forgiving standard) to Strict (The most conformative standard). The W3 validator linked from this site confirms your compliance.
• Spelling - This may sound silly but I have fallen foul to it many times despite being someone who feels very strongly about spelling and the correct use of grammar. This may be that you just hit an incorrect key (particularly if, like me, you use a laptop sometimes). Spellcheck and read through everything that you write. The last thing you want is a Search Engine listing your typo(s) for a long time.
• Gui/Usability/Accessibility - I have linked these together as I feel they are all heavily linked. Firstly the GUI, that is what your users SEE. Does everything LOOK right on the page? Are your links in the right places and in the right format? Usability describes how well (and how easily) your users can use your site. Is your navigation obvious? Are your images related to the content etc etc.
  Accessibility is more important now than ever. The technology to support disabled users is better than ever which means that disabled users are thankfully more prolific than ever before. By restricting your site to users with good visible and motor functions you could be really restricting your traffic and therefore defeating the object of SEO. W3 maintain standards specifically for Accessibility. NB- In the UK your wwebsite may have a legal requirement for accessibility whether you are aware of it or not!

Technorati Tags: Compliance, Correctness, Development Tools, Grammar, H3, Heading Tags, Incorrect Key, Laptop, Long Time, Markup, Paragraphs, Robots, Search Engines, SEO, Starters, Syntax Checker, Text Browsers, Typo, Validation Standards, Variations