Dumb SEO Questions

(Entry was posted by Devin Peterso on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 01/14/2014).

Do you think there is some benefit to going back and fixing sloppy code?

I recently began looking at old pages I created as product descriptions for an ecommerce site I have. I used to write these descriptions with a WYSIWYG editor but eventually started writing the code directly once I became better and more efficient with it. I`ve noticed a lot of sloppy coding due to the WYSIWYG editor. For example:   and and there are lots of tags where it should be . There are other examples of coding where the WYSIWYG editor made everything look sloppy, but it doesn`t actually affect how it looks on the site. Do you think there is some benefit to going back and fixing these problems? I am not asking if it`s WORTH THE TIME, just if it could potentially have any effect at all (in terms of ranking of course), even on the smallest of scales.?
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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

  • Devin Peterson: I recently began looking at old pages I created as product descriptions for an ecommerce site I have. I used to write these descriptions with a WYSIWYG editor but eventually started writing the code directly once I became better and more efficient with it. I've noticed a lot of sloppy coding due to the WYSIWYG editor. For example: <div><strong>&nbsp;</strong></div> and <ul style=""> and there are lots of <div> tags where it should be <p>. There are other examples of coding where the WYSIWYG editor made everything look sloppy, but it doesn't actually affect how it looks on the site. Do you think there is some benefit to going back and fixing these problems? I am not asking if it's WORTH THE TIME, just if it could potentially have any effect at all (in terms of ranking of course), even on the smallest of scales.
  • Dave Elliott: Tidy code = quicker page loading times, which may well improve the rankings. It may also help to reduce bounce rate.
  • GMG Search Engine Optimisation: These issues will not have any effect on your rankings based on our years of research, but going back and changing this will mean your code will be cleaner and it will make your page easier to crawl, which Google loves, this change can be that extra 1% your domain needs to gain more trust in Google and rank better in the long run.
  • Devin Peterson: +GMG Search Engine Optimisation ;I wouldn't expect "research" with very minimal capabilities to establish a control to be able to confirm such tiny changes to have an impact on rankings directly. But then you go on to say (agreeably) that these changes probably do affect the rankings, at least indirectly. I don't really think an occasional line of 'redundant code' is really going to send Google in a tailspin as far as crawling my site goes. I do think that if there is any correlation between trusted sites and sloppy code then the search engines do measure this kind of thing. If nothing else, like +Dave Elliott ;said, I could get slightly faster load times, even if by nanoseconds and could possibly help.
  • Foxtail Marketing: +Devin Peterson ;you mentioned that it made stuff look sloppy.  ;Fix that first if you're looking for rankings help.  ;A sloppy website has a higher bounce rate.  ;A higher bounce rate = lower rankings.

    So, there's the shortest answer to your query.  ;Good luck!
  • Devin Peterson: +Foxtail Marketing ;Only the code is sloppy, not the actual display of content. To the user, nothing will change.
  • W.E. Jonk: From the expert panel in this weeks SEO Questions hangout on air on 00:14:49 into the YouTube video: https://dumbseoquestions.com/q/do_you_think_there_is_some_benefit_to_going_back_and_fixing_sloppy_code

View original question in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 01/14/2014).

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