CSS list nav. above content

Problem for SE spidering?

[millie]

My site has a 3-column layout, with list navigation in left and right columns. The content is in the middle column. The content appears below the navigation in the code. There may be around 20 - 30 navigation links in some cases.

There are no header tags in the navigation. The first <h1> marks the start of the content.

Is it a problem for the efficiency of search engine spidering if the content is below the navigation?

If so, is there a cross-browser compatible work-around for CSS positioning?

[johnnie]

This depends on the mechanism the search engine spider uses to index your pages.

Old spiders might leave you screwed, as they tend to look at meta-tag information and check for the occurence of that information on the first x lines in the body of your document.

A modern spider (I don't know if they're already in use?) that uses (X)HTML semantics should recognize document structure correctly, with <h1> as your first 'depth level' and the text between <p> and </p> as your first piece of content.

I'd say that if you optimize your meta tags and make sure your document is semantically valid, you're fine.

If not now, at least for the future.

[createErrorMsg]

I'd say that if you optimize your meta tags and make sure your document is semantically valid, you're fine.

I would agree, but reverse their order of importance. You can find lots on this in the various SEO and Google forums here on WebmasterWorld.