Forum Moderators: open
I'm kinda puzzled what to do, on my main page I have links to my new articles. They form a "box" like link wich constitues of:
- title
- small image
- small (100 character) description
I'd like to make this whole block a link, so I do it like this:
<a title="my article" class="mylink" href="whatever.html">
<span class="title">title of the article</span>
<img class="small_image" src="whatever.jpg"/>
<span class="description">small desc..</span>
</a>
It works fine, in CSS file I add display:block to my span elements.
I use spans because using divs inside a tag is wrong according to w3c and others. So I kinda "fake it" like this.
In IE7 there is a small problem, link works but arrow doesn't turn into hand, thus I also have to use cursor:pointer in my CSS file.
Now the thing that worries me the most - search engines. Will Google see this as an OK link, or will I get into trouble because it is kinda "bloated".
Any advice is helpful, I'd really like to give my users the option to click anywhere on the box on go to the desired article. I really don't like "read more" and "click here for full article" links..
I am more less attuned to the nuances of the latter. SEO is an art to figure the science of the day.
I completely agree, as a user, that those little 'read more...' links are a PITA. If I like what is in the box, I would MUCH rather click the block than have lean forward and click that darn little 'read more...'
I would not worry about 'bloat' in terms of code It's not that big a deal, and you can always tweak out the 'template code' if need be once set on the approach. But, I would want one of the SEO guys or gals to tell me that that 100 words of text wrapped in a link would not be a problem. If so, can it be side-stepped by putting a title in the <a> or otherwise getting the SE to understand that you don't intend a spam link?
My feeling is that wrapping that much text, despite the good intention, would be flagged as 'keyword stuffing'. I would not do it with one or more SEO pros telling me how to avoid that issue - or if it can be avoided
If a thumbs down from the SEO people on wrapping that much text in the link, then the next best option would be to make the title an obvious link to the full article. It is probably already designed to be a larger font-size: or otherwise prominent. Since it is the largest single element in the box, and the most prominent, it would be the first second choice for me as the link trigger.
