I am not a marketing guru or an SEO expert, but I am a developer and part of my job as a developer is to code semantically with SEO in mind.

Does valid code improve SEO?
No it doesn’t improver your rank status.

BUT
If your code is not valid,

• It can hurt your SEO rank because of semantic issues.
• It simply looks unprofessional.
• It will slow down page loading because the browser switches to Quirks mode to evaluate your code and decide how to display it.
• It can cause display issues with in various browsers.
• The list goes on…………….

Fact is, if your code can not be followed because of being invalid, it will most likely cause issues displaying in browsers, being read by bots /spiders and most likely will have accessibility issues.

Use the tools available, they are there for a reason.
For the employers, do this also, validate the work you payed for, you will not regret it and it will save you money in the long haul.

Validation Tools

• HTML
• CSS
• 508 Accessibility
• RSS

Author: JeffBehnke

I am the owner of this site and a web developer / designer based in Wisconsin. I specialize in front end development but also work fluently in back end development. Languages include HTML, CSS, XML, PHP, SQL, Ajax, JavaScript. I also do a lot of work with phpBB3 and Word Press.

Jeff Behnke has written 45 articles for us.