Comments on: What SEOs Ought to Know About HTML 5

By: Sonix

Sonix — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:13:59 +0000

Well we all expect some standardization and here it is, the new improved “HTML 5” may be it is in the favor of SEOs and i totally agree with you @Tanner we should do things because love them we should do them cos that’s the best thing to be DONE.

By: Andrea Moro

Andrea Moro — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:20:31 +0000

@Tery Yes you are right, but 11 years before next release are definitely something “massive” and I wonder if the process will be slashed down. The W3 world really require a new standard now… not the next decade.

By: Tery Van Horne

Tery Van Horne — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 14:01:52 +0000

Andrea, the RFCs are just a way for the community to decide on what will be added and subtracted. After that is completed in the RFC process the browser developers have to implement it. And having watched RFC’s going back to HTML 2.0, I will be surprised if this is finalized in 5 yrs. For instance there is still debate around the canonical ie: if it is even needed, regardless of what Google wants. You may see support for some elements and attributes in browsers before then, but, RFC’s are a long drawn out affair. Easy for coders to change but that doesn’t matter if the browsers aren’t supporting them.

By: Andrea Moro

Andrea Moro — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 09:05:17 +0000

@Stephanie Woods fact is there are a lot of people who believed in that joke. Yesterday when I was grabbing some info on that, some other web site stated the long term delivery.

Have a look here: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=html5%20release%20date&pws=0

Apart the second document, that is the official one, which states a sooner (?) rec release, all the rest believed in 2022 late release. That’s a shame!

By: Stephanie Woods

Stephanie Woods — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:34:55 +0000

Bill – It’s not going to be drastically different, so you don’t have to worry. A lot of what you’re learning will still be applicable, so keep it up!

Paw – Thanks. I can’t wait to test it out myself!

Andrea – Nice catch! The link you are referring to is actually only a joke site. HTML 5 is just around the corner and not really going to be ready in 2022. I was wondering if anyone would say anything. 🙂

Mathieu – This is where I look to the web dev guy beside me for some further clarification on class name. I like how you’re thinking though – I am going to look into your suggestion some more because I like the sound of it. Giving class names to identify content to spiders sounds intriguing.

By: Mathieu - consultant référencement

Mathieu - consultant référencement — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:53:39 +0000

We could still use the tag names as class names in our not-so-young xhtml designs.
That could constitute an indication for spiders that give more importance to microformats today and use class names to identify content. So by extending the concept, it could be worth doing it…
I did not test the impact though, just a thought…

By: Andrea Moro

Andrea Moro — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:33:12 +0000

Nice reading Stephanie, but the link you chosen is not the best one. HTML 5 specifics are almost complete and I won’t think W3C will wait another 11 years before release them.

I wonder a new completely different approach to Internet and the way to present information by that time.

By: Paw Hellegaard

Paw Hellegaard — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:35:31 +0000

Hey Stephanie, great post u had written here.. I will just say, in my own tests wins HTML 5 alot of points in the ranking.

Paw

By: billdrews

billdrews — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 21:48:20 +0000

Oh great! Stephanie, I’m a sales guy/marketer, whose learned SEO and have been working through XHTML and now CSS, only to find out it’s gonna change! Geeminy! Oh well, HTML5…here I come!

Thanks for the info, and I agree…SEO’ers should learn (to a point) HTML, CSS, etc, to help them talk intelligently with customers…

Great article…thx!

By: Stephanie Woods

Stephanie Woods — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:36:21 +0000

In reply to Dave Ashworth.

Dave – You bring up a good point about needing to wait for developers to embrace the new code. I guess it depends on the company and how much emphasis each department places on SEO. I’ve worked with developers that take SEO into consideration all of the time, and I’ve worked with others that have depended on me to educate them. When talking to other developers about this, they sound enthusiastic about it since it will help standardize the code more; making it easier for a new person to come in and start working on the site.

Re: your concern. I am certain we will see people misuse the tags in an attempt to make everything on a page important. I don’t think that this will work to anyone’s advantage though. Laying out the hierarchy of a page is in an SEOs best interest. And will sites be rewarded for using HTML 5? Since Google seems to be the one pushing for this, my guess would be: Yes.