Will " " within an H tag hurt Google rating?

[jimshu79]

For positioning purposes, I had to use spaces (&nbsp;) within my <H1> tag.

So it looks something like:

<h1>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;widgetwidget&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>
&nbsp;&nbsp;widgetwidget&nbsp;&nbsp;<br>widgetwidget</h1>

[edited by: ciml at 10:35 pm (utc) on April 1, 2004]

[edited by: Marcia at 12:38 pm (utc) on April 3, 2004]
[edit reason] Shortened more for sideways scrolling. [/edit]

[DerekH]

Will it hurt your rating?
Not in my experience.
HTML comprises content + formatting.
Google indexes content.
&nbsp is formatting.

Use formatting to make your visitors enjoy your site (but beware that the effect of &nbsp depends on the font size, and that's not fixed solely by your HTML...)
DerekH

[DerekH]

PS

For positioning purposes, I had to use spaces

No, with due respect, you didn't HAVE to use them - you chose to ignore CSS, and chose to try to bodge it.
DerekH

[jimshu79]

hmm...ok, i'm a novice with CSS obviously. thank you for your response, i'll work on learning more CSS.

Jim

[5x54u]

Hey There,

Here is a warmer reply.

Go here: [w3.org...]

Don't forget to remove lines....

[jimshu79]

thanks again

[Pikin_It_Up]

Try this...

<h1 style="padding-left: 50px;">widgetwidget</h1>

It really is easy...

[jimshu79]

oh wow...nice.

[webnewton]

css jimshu and anyways this won't hurt optimization.

[DerekH]

Warmer reply?
Yes, I'm sorry - the tone of my earlier reply wasn't as helpful as it should have been. I do apologise.

Let me try again...
CSS isn't the scary thing it might seem, especially if you don't try to use all its facilities at one go.
I frequently mix tables (for large scale positioning) with CSS for character and word-based formatting. Although this means my sites end up having one foot in each of the two camps - HTML formatting and CSS formatting - the payoff is still tangible - a massive reduction in "bloat", a common file containing my house style for the whole site, and a much easier time of making adjustments to my site.
Sorry again for not taking the time to say that the first time I replied.
DerekH

[g1smd]

That example uses inline CSS added to the HTML tag in the same way that HTML attributes are added. This can add to code bloat.

Long term, you should change your approach to use the CSS in an external file, which shrinks the HTML file a lot, and also makes it easier to work with.

The example then becomes:

CSS:
h1 {padding-left: 50px;};

HTML:
<h1>widgetwidget</h1>

[jimshu79]

I have much to learn...thanks for the replies. and now i know the importance of CSS much more.