 Does It Matter Where Your Content Is On The Page? |
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High Rankings Search Engine Optimization Forum > Search Engine Optimization > Search Engine Friendly Design & Usability  |
 Oct 30 2006, 06:30 PM
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#1
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HR 2  Group: Active Members Posts: 28 Joined: 4-October 06 User's local time: Jul 31 2010, 05:06 PM Member No.: 14,199  |
If I have images on the top of my page and the content toward the middle-end of my page, does that matter to the search engines? Can text be anywhere on a page or is it better if it is on the top?
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Oct 30 2006, 06:42 PM
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#2
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 HR 10  Group: Moderator Posts: 7,770 Joined: 24-July 03 User's local time: Jul 31 2010, 08:06 PM From: Somerville, MA Member No.: 22 |
It doesn't seem to matter to the search engines, but it may matter to your readers. If all of your content is below the fold, that could be problematic. I know that people in some businesses believe that text is superfluous to their audience so they only put it there to give the search engines something to index, but I disagree with that.
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Oct 31 2006, 03:29 AM
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#3
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 HR 6 Group: Active Members Posts: 602 Joined: 11-August 04 User's local time: Jul 31 2010, 08:06 PM From: London, England Member No.: 4,643 |
QUOTE(qwerty @ Oct 30 2006, 07:42 PM) some businesses believe that text is superfluous to their audience so they only put it there to give the search engines something to index, but I disagree with that.  I don't think people visiting websites read as much as web owners would like them to read. We live in a point and click world with many people having the attention span of a goldfish. I know when I trawl the web I skim and click. Sure, if I get interested in something I want to be able to get to the detail easily but if it were not for search engines I think many website designs would be very different and mainly made up of images and not text. With good web design you have to appeal to the search engines so that people find the website, you have to grab people's attention so that they don't click away and you have to provide them with the right level of information for when they are slightly interested, mildly interested and very interested and ready to do business. I know the term Web 2.0 is banded around without most people really knowing what it means or if it really exists, however, there are some websites that I believe do represent a new generation that have taken the concepts of Flash and interaction and managed to build a solid and robust SEO site. Web 2.0 may be a myth but with web design the times they are a'changin. |
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Oct 31 2006, 09:30 AM
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#4
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 HR 4 Group: Active Members Posts: 202 Joined: 17-February 05 User's local time: Jul 31 2010, 05:06 PM From: Reno, NV Member No.: 6,660 |
The search engines see code so they only know where your text lies within the whole of the page's HTML. They cannot determine where your text lies on the visible page.
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Oct 31 2006, 10:47 AM
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#5
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 Keyword Super Freak Group: Moderator Posts: 861 Joined: 23-July 03 User's local time: Jul 31 2010, 07:06 PM From: Texas, y'all Member No.: 14 |
Stoney? Did you leave your computer logged in and walk away?
Go read up on visual page segmentation: http://research.microsoft.com/research/pub...20Report&id=690 http://ews.uiuc.edu/~dengcai2/VIPS/VIPS.html |
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Oct 31 2006, 10:49 AM
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#6
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 HR 2 Group: Active Members Posts: 47 Joined: 10-October 06 User's local time: Jul 31 2010, 08:06 PM Member No.: 14,312 |
A good way to see what the search engine spider see is to go to a spider simulator. You can get a real sense of how the spider sees things. There are many out there so won't list them here. Just go to your favorite seach engine and type in spider simulator. (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/1eye.gif) (IMG:http://www.highrankings.com/forum/style_emoticons/default/1eye.gif)
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Oct 31 2006, 11:10 AM
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#7
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HR 4 Group: Active Members Posts: 202 Joined: 17-February 05 User's local time: Jul 31 2010, 05:06 PM From: Reno, NV Member No.: 6,660 |
I'm a bit behind on my VIPS research but with absolute positioning using CSS this makes it difficult for the SE to determine where things really are on the page. I didnt see anything on those two links you provided about analyzing style sheets in order to do that.
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Nov 1 2006, 04:52 AM
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#8
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HR 3 Group: Active Members Posts: 72 Joined: 7-November 03 User's local time: Jul 31 2010, 08:06 PM Member No.: 1,268 |
QUOTE(haylieplum @ Oct 30 2006, 07:30 PM) If I have images on the top of my page and the content toward the middle-end of my page, does that matter to the search engines? Can text be anywhere on a page or is it better if it is on the top? The best thing for you to do is to think what would be best for you visitors as you are actually mainly writing your pages for your visitors and not for the search engines. |
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Nov 1 2006, 05:35 PM
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#9
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HR 4 Group: Active Members Posts: 210 Joined: 31-July 03 User's local time: Jul 31 2010, 08:06 PM Member No.: 120 |
QUOTE(Martin C @ Oct 31 2006, 04:29 AM) I don't think people visiting websites read as much as web owners would like them to read. ... snip ... With good web design you have to appeal to the search engines so that people find the website, you have to grab people's attention so that they don't click away and you have to provide them with the right level of information for when they are slightly interested, mildly interested and very interested and ready to do business. You are right to some degree. You forget that web pages serves different purposes and our route into them differ depending on our intentions and tasks. People who search are the most easy to understand. We know from research that people do not read (they browse) but we also know that most graphics is ignored. Images are important for the tone of the site, navigation etc. but we are actually primarily looking for relevant text. I believe that most people searching in search engines for information want that information splash in their face. They want to see what is on their mind right there in front of them. They do not want a videoshow or a artgallery or a quiz in obscure navigation methods. They are in the moment fact seekers. They want information - that is text. Relevant and useful text in the right amount makes them happy. Thus from a SEO optimizing perspective (not search engine ranking perspective) the location of text does matter: Center above the fold in a graphicly calm environment. C. |
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Nov 13 2006, 07:15 AM
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#10
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 HR 4 Group: Active Members Posts: 234 Joined: 6-January 05 User's local time: Aug 1 2010, 05:36 AM From: India Member No.: 6,140 |
Content position is depend on the size of the page. The main theme to place content is search engine can read your page and according to show the results.
IMHO search engine robot can read your page up to 10-15k size so placing content after that whats the use. |
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Nov 13 2006, 07:35 AM
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#11
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 High Rankings Advisor  Group: Admin Posts: 29,889 Joined: 21-July 03 User's local time: Jul 31 2010, 08:06 PM From: Ashland, MA Member No.: 2 |
QUOTE IMHO search engine robot can read your page up to 10-15k size so placing content after that whats the use. They'll actually read over 100k. |
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