Forum Moderators: phranque
In a recent thread here, a couple of members bemoan the fact that only 11% of sites used a H1 tag, implying there's a lot of SEO left to do out there.
I'll go out on a limb here, and suggest neither of them would be likely to use <H1> tags without size modification through CSS.
Now I've often heard the argument that there's a logical reason for using <H1> tags, and their use is in fact "going by the book" etc,etc; but to my mind using CSS modified tags is strictly SEO spam.
Put that CSS in your main page <Head> tags for 6 weeks.
There is no way this would harm SE listings. CSS is used by many many top sites and IMO is crucial to proper web page design. I personally use CSS in my main page, and needless to say, it doesnt negativly effect my positions.
If you dont believe me, do a view source on the homepage of the largest online book retailer, on the internet (Hint: think tropical rainforest). You will see an assortment of CSS tags in the <Head> section of the main page. Doesnt seem to harm them to much in the SE's ;)
As others have said, using CSS, web developers can lay out HTML data on a web page without either misusing tags or using hacks to get the page looking just the way you want. Aslo, the complete separation of content from presentation, enables web develoeprs to modify the entire design of a website by modifying one stylesheet, rather than updating every document that the web site contains.
IMHO, if you are not using CSS, you had better start learning. :)
>>Suddenly, external CSS files became very popular.
What about the CSS code spiders have to wade through for indexing purposes?
External files can be used to offload CSS (along with JavaScript) for better indexing.
Why wouldn't you offload extensive CSS code? ;)
Nick
Just because some people use it that way, does not mean all people use it that way.
I stand by my own methods and standards which do not include spamming to increase rankings. Hope that clarifies things. :)
