Author: Alan Rothstein, Co-Founder of Fish Tank Media
Why all the fuss about HTML 5 & SEO? The Google organic algorithm. Many are talking about the use of HTML 5 in conjunction with Flash and the announcement of Adobe discontinuing development of Flash for mobile devices. However, the true SEO value comes in the form of new tags that Google can use to rank Web page’s based on the organic algorithm. If a web developer is able to better identify sections of the Web page, it allows the search bot to better understand sections of a page without generic <div> interference. In particular, this will allow Googlebot to incorporate new individual tags in the algorithm.
Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) began work on the new HTML 5 standard in 2004; HTML 4.01 had not been updated since 2000. While HTML 5 has not been standardized across web browsers for many years, a publicized letter was released in April 2010 by Steve Jobs explaining the benefits of HTML 5. In early November 2011 Adobe announced it will discontinue development of Flash for mobile devices and reorient its efforts on developing tools utilizing HTML 5.
What is HTML?
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the main markup language for displaying web pages and other information that can be displayed in a web browser.
What is Different about HTML 5?
Thanks to Focus.com for providing a list of additions HTML 5 will add to the HTML protocol.
Cross-Document Messaging – Sends information from pages on different domains to each other.
WUYSIWYG Editable Elements – Enables user to add, edit and delete text, graphics and more.
New, Sytyleable HTML5 Elements – The stylable elements refer to the ability to use CSS on some new elements.
Get Elements by Class Name – Method of accusing DOM elements by class name.
Video Element – Enable users to play videos on webpages without requiring a plug in.
Audio Element – Enables user to play sound on whitepapers without requiring a plug in.
Canvas Basic Support – Generates dynamic graphics using Javascript.
Text API for Canvas – Method of displaying text on canvas elements.
Drag and Drop – Method of easily dragging and dropping elements on a page.
Offline Web Applications – Select web page files to be cached allowing them to work offline.
HTML5 Form Features – Expanded form options, including things like data pickers and videos.
Inline SVG in HTML5 – Method of using SVG tags directly in HTML documents.
What about SEO specifically?
As HTML 5 becomes more widely used, it will be mandatory to compete in Google’s organic rankings. The sooner a website adapts to the HTML 5 protocol the better the likelihood it will stand out amongst other websites using indistinct <div> tags. Use of HTML 5 is also buzz worthy since launched apps and games using HTML 5 are still rare.
How Do HTML 5 Tags Help SEO?
Improved page segmentation is the biggest benefit of HTML 5. Up to now developers had to define page sections with workaround <div id=”header”> tags. The new tags include <article>, <section>, <header>, <footer>, <nav>, and <aside>.
Another benefit is the <hgroup> tag, used to group heading elements. The <hgroup> element is used to group a set of <h1> to <h6> elements, when a heading has multiple levels (subheadings). This can allow search bots to better understand the semantics between two different keyword themes.
In Conclusion
HTML 5 improves website usability and the user experience. New HTML 5 tags help developers classify important content. HTML 5 is useful for sites rich in media (Audio & Video). Flash Sites can be crawled and indexed better with HTML 5. It is also great for developing mobile apps & games.
Most importantly, HTML 5 provides Google better control to apply hierarchal values to different elements on the page. The sooner you implement HTML 5 the sooner you can reap the benefits in organic rankings and the longer you will have the upper hand on your competitors.