Is the <p></p> tag important as far as SEO?

[dan_popescu]

I'm building a site using CSS only. I was thinking of leaving the <p></p> tags out since I don't really need them. Do these tages play any role in the way Google ranks pages? Or maybe the description Google displays with a page in search results has sth to do with it? Should I have them?

Thanks,
dan

[nell]

They play no role.

[ScottM]

I have found that it neither helps nor hurts. Just my 2 cents.

[dan_popescu]

Thanks
Dan

[andreasfriedrich]

If you have paragraphs on your page I suggest you use the p element to mark up these paragraphs. This is the idea of a markup language.

While this might not help with Google it is just good style.

Andreas

[piskie]

In my book of equivalents once CSS is used throughout the page:
<p> = <br><br>

[pageoneresults]

Anytime you are formatting paragraph content, you should use the <p></p> tags. It's a basic element of formatting copy and can also play a role in accessibility.

W3C - Getting Started with HTML - The Basics [w3.org]

I would think the <p> tags do play a role in SEO. Not for ranking purposes, but for how the spider parses content. <p> tags are used to separate content. Maybe someone with a little more spider knowledge can jump in here and confirm my suspicions on parsing.

[andreasfriedrich]

In my book of equivalents once CSS is used throughout the page:
<p> = <br><br>

Never ever and under no circumstances will a paragraph element will ever be equal to two line break elements. HTML is a markup language. It is used to markup the structure of documents. A paragraph is a totally different entity than two line breaks. IMHO you should not even use a line break at all. It is not really structural markup.

Andreas

[caine]

Have to agree with Andreas & POR

its elemental my dear watson.

Excluding it can come at a very high cost as in ROI

value SEO wise = nothing
site value = i would use it what ever styles were being used, for accessability reasons.