I have a question:

Does order of DIV Tag matter in SEO ?
if it does matter, upto which extent it matters?

What option is better:

1) Header DIV, Content DIV, Navigation DIV or
2) Header DIV, Navigation DIV, Content DIV.

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All 10 Replies

It matters very much; as a principle, try to have the main content as close to the top of the code of page as you can; on the other hand, the repetitive content - that search engines tend to disregard - like the navigation and other blocks that put the same content on many pages, you should put these as down to the bottom of the code as you can.
So, option 1 (Header DIV, Content DIV, Navigation DIV) is clearly better than option 2 (Header DIV, Navigation DIV, Content DIV)

You're welcome ;)

That's a myth. Don't believe it. Put your navigation on top for this reason: search engines will only parse a limited amount of content on one page before stopping. The links in your site navigation are much more important SEO wise then the actual page content. Not only in terms of link value but in ensuring all of your content is accessible.

Of course the links are inportant for ones site, but more important than them is the UNIQUE content of your pages; if you know the basics about SEO, you must know that; also, it's a well known thing that search engines give more importance to the information at the beginning of the code and less importance as the code goes to bottom;
so, in your oppinion: if you have 10.000 pages of articles on your site and all off your pages have the first 500 rows of code almost identical and only the rest different is better than having all those pages different and filled with interesting content close to the first lines of code and than the repeating links?
It is true that search engines will only parse a limitted amount of links on each page (arround 100), but who says that those links have to be on top of page to be paresd???

devesh9392 - a good way to see how search engines "see" you page is to remove the CSS formating and see how your pages look without it. The search engines don't mind the visual layout of your page but they really mind the "layout" of the content behind your page.
Also, remember that search engines try to bring in front those pages that are more likely to be liked buy your potential site visitors. What this means? this means that, after removing the CSS formating of your pages, look at them as you would be a visitor to your site; without the page formating, you are left with only the links (navigation) and the main content of the page (article, post etc.); now, you, as a visitor navigating your site, what would prefer: on each page to see the same 100 links in the beginning and have to scroll down in order to read what's interesting or the vice versa? on each page, first you find the content that brought you to that page and than, after you have read that and decided you want to see more pages, to find the links to other pages?
Think about it! Search engines like to "see" content first and, if they "think" the content is good, give importance to the links from that page to anonther and so on... They like to see your site like a common visitor to your site would like to see it.
Remember, unique content, close to the beginning of the code;
and, if you don't believe me, try to search on google about SEO, unique content and best content placement on page; you will find thousands of forums and blogs that support what I said

Of course the links are inportant for ones site, but more important than them is the UNIQUE content of your pages; if you know the basics about SEO, you must know that; also, it's a well known thing that search engines give more importance to the information at the beginning of the code and less importance as the code goes to bottom;
so, in your oppinion: if you have 10.000 pages of articles on your site and all off your pages have the first 500 rows of code almost identical and only the rest different is better than having all those pages different and filled with interesting content close to the first lines of code and than the repeating links?
It is true that search engines will only parse a limitted amount of links on each page (arround 100), but who says that those links have to be on top of page to be paresd???

devesh9392 - a good way to see how search engines "see" you page is to remove the CSS formating and see how your pages look without it. The search engines don't mind the visual layout of your page but they really mind the "layout" of the content behind your page.
Also, remember that search engines try to bring in front those pages that are more likely to be liked buy your potential site visitors. What this means? this means that, after removing the CSS formating of your pages, look at them as you would be a visitor to your site; without the page formating, you are left with only the links (navigation) and the main content of the page (article, post etc.); now, you, as a visitor navigating your site, what would prefer: on each page to see the same 100 links in the beginning and have to scroll down in order to read what's interesting or the vice versa? on each page, first you find the content that brought you to that page and than, after you have read that and decided you want to see more pages, to find the links to other pages?
Think about it! Search engines like to "see" content first and, if they "think" the content is good, give importance to the links from that page to anonther and so on... They like to see your site like a common visitor to your site would like to see it.
Remember, unique content, close to the beginning of the code;
and, if you don't believe me, try to search on google about SEO, unique content and best content placement on page; you will find thousands of forums and blogs that support what I said

1) There are lots of sites that also say meta tags are important for ranking well in the search engines. Don't believe what websites say about SEO. Go find good discussions about it. It's much more informative.

2) Content is important and is king. But content is king because it attracts links. Links have tremendous power in SEO especially their anchor text. They can do more for the ranking of a page then the content itself.

3) You have to remember that content is useless if it cannot be found. Make sure your navigation is always available and readily found by the search engines. They need it to be able to navigate your site successfully. Navigation bars are huge factor in on-site SEO. They get you links with anchor text and help your pages get found.

4) Content being placed higher on the page does nothing for SEO. It just means the content is higher up on the page. That whole thing about "content being higher means more SEO value" is a newbie myth.

5) If your content is so large that you risk not having all of it indexed and that is why you want it above the navigation bar then the page is too large and should be broken up into smaller pages. Sacrificing your navigation bar being indexed instead of splitting up the content is just plain dumb.

6) Search engines don't see code as duplicate content. They see content as duplicate content. Newbies don't understand that search engines don't rank code. It's the content that matters. Also, every site has a ton of duplicate content on it. It's called the site layout.

Search engines don't see code as duplicate content. They see content as duplicate content. Newbies don't understand that search engines don't rank code. It's the content that matters. Also, every site has a ton of duplicate content on it. It's called the site layout.

stymiee, if you weren't so full of what you know and so convinced that everybody else is a newbie, you would understand that I wasn't talking about the code of page as the "html tags" but rather about the full text version of the page (tags stripped), which is what search engines see, as opposed to the visual version of the page.
Anyway, we can argue for days, pros and cons of one version against another. I made my point, you made yours... and anybody trusts whoever they want, and learn whatever they want.

if you have 10.000 pages of articles on your site and all off your pages have the first 500 rows of code almost identical and only the rest different is better than having all those pages different and filled with interesting content close to the first lines of code and than the repeating links?

stymiee, if you weren't so full of what you know and so convinced that everybody else is a newbie, you would understand that I wasn't talking about the code of page as the "html tags" but rather about the full text version of the page (tags stripped), which is what search engines see, as opposed to the visual version of the page.

That looks like a contradiction to me.

If you want to be taken seriously in SEO you'll need to do more then be argumentative. You'll follow up your argument with clear and well thought out points like I always do. Saying other people do it is probably the worst reason for doing anything in SEO.

Whatever you say :)

thnx guys.

johny_d sounds better

commented: Sounding better and being better are two different things -1
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