Content to Code ratio

[tedster]

I understand that the ratio of text content to total code seems to be in the algo for at least some SEs. My question is how important is it?

For instance, is it worth the time to go over code and eliminate the places where default values are written out anyway, like <table border=0 cellpadding=1 cellspacing=1>? Or how about eliminating the quotes around image names, which the major browsers don't really need even though it is proper HTML to include them?

It seems to me that I could really put my code on a big diet, but I'm not sure if there's enough return in it for the time it will take. For now I'm moving a lot of JS and CSS off the page and into their own files. But I will probably do some selective testing to get a further handle on this.

Does anyone have any experience here they can share?

[Brett_Tabke]

Not only for the indexers, but also for the sake of download speed. I go for the variety thing Tedster. Some pages I do large, some small. It also depends on the site and its purpose. I get away with pages here that are quite large by other standards (I think it is 55k total now with images - that is getting up there, but it is mostly webmasters who visit here and they come for info, not the glitz). While at other sites, I can afford to keep them small and tightly focused.

As I said in a few other messages around here, I think that it matters to have variety for the algo's.