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Countless pages have been written on how the most important content on a page should also appear first in the HTML markup. This is good for readers with slow connections, but has also been thought to help search engine optimization.

With the search engines growing more intelligent by the day, this area of search engine optimization has become all but unnecessary. All the major search engines are able to figure out which part of the document is the main content, so the order will usually have little effect. As usual, Google is especially good at this.

That does not mean that you should not optimize content order, though. The same point about slow connections is still valid, though most Internet connections are faster nowadays. Having a sidebar with a lot of ads load before the main content will still hurt some users, so you should avoid it.

You should probably not spend too much time thinking about content order, but if you know your HTML you really have no excuse not to help your visitors by placing the main content first in the markup. If that helps some search engine find your content, you should see that as a bonus.

by Sutocu | February 26, 2008

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Comment by Margo
2008-02-28 17:47:11

Thanks for pointing this out:
“You should probably not spend too much time thinking about content order, but if you know your HTML you really have no excuse not to help your visitors by placing the main content first in the markup.”
It seems obvious, but then, how many of us miss the obvious all too often?

2008-12-08 16:35:38

How do learn to design/prepress
http:// afifpangestu.co.cc

 
 
Comment by Naman
2008-03-03 07:27:38

Placement of orderly content in the website is very important, though Search Engine can find our main content wheresoever it has been placed but from the user point of view our content should be placed orderly as to make it user friendly.

 
2008-03-03 09:45:21

Thanks for the post.
Placement of your content in an orderly way is not only important for the search engines but also for those who are reading it.
No good if your content is hidden out of the way

Great site by the way
Rich

 
Comment by Expat
2008-03-04 07:59:39

I’m ordering all my contents and I personally hate heavy side bars. I was working on SEO for a while but I’m little bit confused about SEM. I’m not clear about that. Have to work on it.

Comment by Michael Wood
2009-02-24 20:41:59

SEO is a part of SEM :)

 
 
Comment by Land Projects UK
2008-03-05 02:03:49

I think ordering contents for your website is necessary. Not just for search engine optimization but also for your readers. A user friendly website drives more readers.

 
2008-03-05 05:51:23

Google always starts reading a site from the left side and sidebars then at the center. Ordering the content is good though.

 
2008-03-05 17:35:37

That’s one major advantage to using CSS. You can put your content portions higher in the html and even before the navigation for your page, and then use the CSS to place it in the right position when the page gets rendered. This is a lot harder (almost impossible ) to do when you are writing using a table design.

 
Comment by Shannon
2008-03-18 13:15:14

Great Blog, I will learn a lot from here. I will keep on reading it, thanks for the informations, really helpful. ^_^

 
Comment by Dallas Web Design
2008-04-01 02:01:48

Little tricks like ordering content typically provides very little benefit. To truly do well in the search engines one needs a better strategy.

 
Comment by VistaPrint
2008-04-07 01:55:53

That’s good to know since I sometimes worry about SEO on new websites.

 
Comment by David
2008-04-08 03:25:38

Great info. I’ve been wondering the same thing about SEO on those new websites. I’m trying to start a blog so this really helps. Thanks again for posting

 
2008-04-11 20:24:31

Thanks for sharing this info… the thing about SEO is that it helps those who fully understand its capabilities to increase their chances of being seen and making their hard work pay off ;)

 
Comment by James
2008-04-21 01:32:36

Nice tip man…

 
Comment by Taurus The Bull
2008-04-21 15:18:12

If you have your main keywords in the title of your page and in the meta tags it should not be hard for the search engines to find your main content.

 
Comment by gcpr
2008-04-30 04:00:17

thanks ..
usefull tip ..

 
Comment by Josh
2008-05-07 16:41:35

I would disagree that the content order in HTML source is not important anymore. Think of the mobile device users who usually are presented with a stripped down CSS version of your website, which means that HTML structure is all they actually see. If the main content area is not at the top, users have to scroll long way through the secondary content. Its not about slow connections for desktop/laptop users, but the overall accessibility of the content.

 
Comment by episode downlod
2008-05-09 17:41:39

good seo tip , thanks!

 
2008-05-20 08:50:54

SEO is really important if you want more visits from google. Good article! Thanks for the tips!

 
Comment by Enache
2008-07-04 08:11:21

If you can order your content why not ? Is just about creating some rules and follow them ? Apply this to new content and cost nothing, even it’s for little benefit. Every tiny little bit helps …

 
Comment by SEO Discoveries
2008-07-07 04:36:03

You can also get more information regarding SEO and SEO techniques from http://www.seodiscoveries.com. I also found this information very useful and comprhensive, Will anybody tell that How can i get more traffic to my site to earn from google ads.

 
Comment by hossein
2008-07-08 06:12:25

I read this site and it is very greate.
take a look here:
seo toronto

 
Comment by taylan
2008-07-10 09:20:56

Great tips. I think, web sites have been creating simple HTML codes, not all JavaScripts and Flash.

 
Comment by Monavie
2008-07-10 21:01:13

Isn’t it interesting to see just how much Google can really do? I think having your content load fast is really important for the optimization of your site. Good article.

 
Comment by Diego Malingo
2008-07-22 16:51:13

Personally, I donĀ“t think it is necessary to worry about the content order. More important is a well written, engaging article. As mentioned in this post, search engines get smarter and smarter, so worrying about order is not necessary…quality is.

 
Comment by Andrey
2008-07-26 09:10:16

Good news

 
Comment by Andrey
2008-07-26 09:10:49

Good article

 
Comment by Andrey
2008-07-26 09:11:48

what about this article

 
Comment by Andrey
2008-07-26 09:12:36

What about PR update

 
Comment by Personalised plates
2008-07-28 13:59:08

Agreed - you should consider the order your content comes up in your markup, but you shouldn’t get too hung up on it as there are far more important aspects to worry about.

 
2008-08-08 18:07:47

Placement of order base content is very important in the website. Not only search engine optimization also for your reader. Placement order content is a user friendly website. also it drives more readers.

 
Comment by PS3
2008-08-15 14:55:55

Didn’t know about placement order, will review my website. Thanks!

 
Comment by Kroshka
2008-09-25 11:19:14

Thanks big for a post. Do not prompt what at you e-mail? Is pair questions. P.S. Your constant reader from Russia.

 
Comment by Roger Hamilton
2008-09-28 12:54:39

What matters most is the Call To Actions. Without them, your visitors will not know what to do next and might just leave the site.

 
2008-10-14 16:48:28

You also want to have a keyword in your H1 title tag if you can then as you run down the page use your title tags for priority of importance i.e. H1, H1 etc. Nice article

 
Comment by Monavie Acai Berry
2008-10-20 19:08:50

Yes many custom made sites do have the wrong order in their HTML. Rearranging the order will help them greatly improve their Rankings.

 
2008-10-22 07:12:51

hi

nice articles.

thanks a lot for share the information

 
Comment by Joey Logano
2008-10-26 14:25:13

The sad thing is….. as much as Google praises that having highly relevant content, will go far, I think that having strong incoming links will go alot farther. Point in case, I see alot of websites that have “suspended” signs on them, ranking highly, because they have alot of links to them. So sometimes, I wonder just how much much of an importance is it to worry about content.

 
Comment by Web Design Company
2008-11-01 17:53:48

I guess content order may not be as improtant as it used to be. But it certainly cannot be neglected completely. The order of keywords in title tag or in the first paragraph of mainbody is also related to content ordering and are still influential.

 
Comment by hair irons
2008-11-07 12:49:44

For my sites I just focus on writing good content for them and do not worry so much about the order of it. This has worked out fairly well for me so I cannot believe that just because my keywords are toward the middle of the paragraph it will not do as well as those in the beginnng if the content is not as good on the other site.

 
Comment by Miledi
2008-11-11 04:27:55

?? ????!? ?? ?????? ???????, ?????? ??? ????? ????? ? ????????? ????? ?????????

 
2008-11-12 16:45:20

It certainly cant hurt to organise your content so that the main focus of the page loads before any adverts or other less important content. It will certainly help users with slow connection speeds.

 
Comment by Roger Hamilton
2008-11-17 12:01:51

We should also take note of how H1 H2 tags affect SEO. There are many other stuff as well. I also agree with the above comment that it help users with slow connection speed.

 
2008-11-18 05:58:06

Content is the king in the eyes of Search Engines. Its optimization is the important function in SEO. We should take care of keyword density, exact location of keywords in the content, header tags placing etc. Your post is knowledgeable for newbies as well as experience one.

 
Comment by Coalgames
2008-12-17 07:42:22

Hmmmm. But dont you use SEO to get visitors to get money from your ads? Interesting. But thanks anyways.

 
Comment by Harry
2008-12-17 11:54:49

Yes, Nice point to consider, thanks for this valuable tips. I will sure apply these changes to me website.

 
Comment by Indian Auto Blog
2009-01-08 02:00:23

I think SEO is patience than anything else. Content ordering is useful for readers too, as they can find content faster and easier.

 
2009-01-24 23:02:46

Content order is maybe just one factor out of hundreds of factors that will help but I certainly would not put it on the top of my priority list.

You can have your content order spot on and you will still more than likely find various competitors for different search terms ranking above you who have their content order all mixed up. I personally will check at least 100 other elements before I look at the order of my html coding.

 
Comment by Marble Host
2009-02-12 09:50:18

Practically stating, your marketing strategy is automatically designed in sync with SEO tools operating over the web and all you get is enormous branding scope in your kitty.

 
Comment by Web Hosting Reviews
2009-02-15 20:24:01

Another reason to reorder your content is when google shows a summary of the page, if they don’t know what to show they default to the top of the content. If the first thing in your page is the menu then that is what will show up.

 
2009-03-09 10:44:11

hi,

cool article.

thanks a lot for sharing the information.

 
Comment by ardaca
2009-03-13 11:30:01

I dont understant anything.:S

 
Comment by Online Paid Surveys
2009-03-21 05:45:22

One interesting thing I found is that same content published on some sites rank much higher

 
2009-03-31 22:11:44

Very useful. Thank you

 
Comment by zaposlitev
2009-04-06 13:00:32

Thanks for the tip, maybe this is important to consider if you target markets with slower internet connections.

 
Comment by Ohrprobleme
2009-05-03 16:19:20

Nice article, thanks.
Please keep on blogging…
I am looking forward to read your next great article.

Best regards…

 
2009-05-11 20:43:17

Nice post on keeping content in order. there is lots more to understand and learn about SEO from this blog. Lets me run through all the informative posts here ;)

Regards,
Leif

 
2009-05-11 21:33:07

I always try to put the most important information first not only for SEO but for the website visitors. People don’t want to have to read a lot and scroll a lot to get the information they want. It should just be there clearly visible as soon as they hit the page.

 
Comment by Greg Pritchard
2009-05-20 19:23:13

Is it not important to have the most important content on your homepage?

 
Comment by Jocuri de Strategie
2009-05-23 07:50:40

I love your website design and your posts, keep up the good work.

 
Comment by Ebook store
2009-05-26 13:30:42

SEO Expert works with you to optimally structure each page in order to meet best specifications that affect search engine rankings such as: page length, layout, format, writing style and keyword density.

 
Comment by Utah Seo
2009-06-05 02:55:42

Content is the king in the eyes of Search Engines. Its optimization is the important function in SEO. We should take care of keyword density, exact location of keywords in the content, header tags placing etc. Your post is knowledgeable for newbies as well as experience one.
-Courtney
coffee canister

 
2009-06-06 20:10:16

yes I agree with utah seo that content is the king. with good article we can get more good and targeted traffic.
good tips.

 
Comment by Happy Family
2009-06-26 19:04:47

I want to optimize my web pages so that our homepage will rank high in Google!. Many of our web pages require password to log in. If I only want the homepage to rank high, can I just optimize 10 or 20 pages that have meaningful content, or I should optimize 100+ web pages? Among those 100+ web pages, some of them are just sign in page, forgot password page.

 
2009-06-28 12:57:09

Judging by the experience, inserting keywords intensively will help your article and page be ranked sky-high. Just make sure that the quality applies.

 
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