SEO Expert Blog

Websites that comply with Web standards rank better in search engines. Is this true? Well, you will find examples of sites that rank very high that do not comply with standards, because there are a range of factors the determine your site's rank. More important is the number of quality sites, i. e. sites that are ranking well, that link back to your site.

Does this mean, I do not have to care about Web standards? This is a wrong conclusion. If you were two compare two sites with exactly the same number of back links from the same sites, the same content which only differ in the aspect of standards compliance, it's likely that the compliant site will rank higher. Some of the reasons why are listed below:

• Reduction of page size results in faster downloads and improves the user experience.
• An accessible site can serve a higher number of potential visitors.
• A site that has a consistent design is easier to use.
• A well structured site that uses style sheets is easier to maintain, because changes in your CSS file will be reflected on all pages.
• Better browser compatibility by avoiding browser specific markup which only works in that particular version of the browser.

Of course a nice looking, and usable website does not necessarily need to be standards compliant and a site that conforms with standards does not necessarily need to look boring. If you don't believe the latter, below are two websites that promote and show lots of awesome designs that are standards compliant:

• css Zen Garden: The Beauty in CSS Design
• W3 Compliant Sites