Skip to content
Gravity Search Marketing
  • Why Gravity
  • Services
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

Ask the Experts: Will W3C Validation Affect My Search…

  • May 8, 2007
  • by Jennifer Grappone

Q: A week ago I received a message from my SEO consultant regarding HTML W3C validation. He said that I need to pay $5,000 to upgrade my site for the validation. How important or crucial is this validation for the SEO? All webpages run correctly in the browsers (IE, Firefox) but I didn’t know about this HTML validation. Will validation impact our ranking results?

A: The short answer is “No.” While we advocate W3C validation as a general web development best practice, we are not aware of any direct connection between validation and search engine rankings. The majority of websites, including many websites with top rankings on search engines, as well as the search engine websites themselves, do not validate with the W3C validation. However, there may be specific invalid code that your SEO consultant is concerned about. It is possible that the W3C validation check found errors in your code (such as a missing end quote or a duplicated tag) that could potentially be a problem for search engines.

We consider W3C HTML validation a helpful tool for observing a website, but not an end-all goal (our own website, for example, is not fully validated). if your SEO consultant is telling you that it will cost $5,000 to gain validation for your site, you should find out exactly what errors he or she is observing, and why those are specifically going to cause ranking or indexing problems. If this information isn’t forthcoming, then we think you’re being hoodwinked. Get a second opinion before you pay for the fix!

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Ask the Experts: Am I Giving Away SEO Secrets?
The Monkey Diaries – Monkey (SEO Test)
Who We Are
Gravity Search Marketing was formed in 2006 as a partnership between Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin. Gravity’s clients include Fortune 500 companies, global entertainment brands, niche B2Bs, large and small retailers, and non-profits.
As SEO industry veterans, Couzin and Grappone co-wrote Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day (Wiley, 2006, 2008, 2011) and Five Stars: Putting Online Reviews to Work for Your Business (Wiley, 2014), and enjoy sharing their expertise in speaking engagements and press interviews. 
Gravity's small, talented team has expertise in analytics, paid search, social media and technical SEO. Gravity team members are located throughout California, in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Get in Touch

Get An Effective SEO Strategy

Most of our business comes through word of mouth from happy customers. We work with clients who have what it takes to make the project a success: intelligence, openness to new ideas, a commitment to communicating with us regularly, and a workflow that allows us to work with you effectively.

Contact Us
  • Home
  • Why Gravity is Different
  • Services
  • Blog
  • Books We’ve Written
  • Contact Us

Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB)

Gravity is an SBA-Certified WOSB

NAICS Codes:

  • 541613 Marketing Consulting Services
  • 541810 Advertising Agencies
  • 541820 Public relations agencies
  • 541990 Other Professional Services
  • 611430 Professional and Management Training
Gravity Search Marketing LLC - A Full-Service SEO Company
Los Angeles • San Francisco
Copyright © 2020 All Rights Reserved
Theme by Colorlib Powered by WordPress