The source code of a website is a collection of instructions and tags that defines the structured content of a web page. It consists of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and may also contain JavaScript and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).
Source code, also known as source code or HTML code, is the foundation of any web page. It consists of a collection of text lines that are interpreted by browsers to enable the display and functionality of a web page.
By reading the page source text, search engine bots infer the complete content of a website. For example, they can follow internal and external links. Furthermore, all important information about web tracking, CMS, structured data, meta title and meta description, robots instructions etc. are stored in the source code. The most important contents and parameters of a domain are stored high up in the source code.
The source code plays a crucial role in search engine optimization (SEO). Search engine bots crawl the source code to extract information about the content and structure of a web page. The following factors are of particular importance:
1. structured data
The source code should contain structured data to help search engines better understand the content. This enables rich snippets and improved awareness in the SERPs.
2. meta tags
Meta tags such as the title tag and meta description are crucial because they provide search engines and users with information about the content of the page. In Organic Search, the meta tags are the "front door" of a website from the user's point of view. If the searcher can find out about the content of a URL via the definition of the meta tags, targeted clicks are made and the bounce rate drops.
3. pagespeed
Efficient code and minimizing load times are important. Slow pages are not appreciated by search engines and users. This is especially true for mobile friendliness. The lower the loading times, the more attractive search engines and users consider the mobile version of a website.
In order for search engine bots to extract all relevant information from the source code, technical conditions must be met:
Correct HTML
The HTML code should be valid and error-free so as not to confuse search engines. Here you need to pay attention to the text-to-code ratio.
Robots meta tag
The Robots meta tag specifies at URL level whether a URL may be examined by the bot. Indexing information allows or prevents crawling, indexing and tracking of internal links.
However, the SEO-relevant information in the source code still includes many different metrics. These are constantly analyzed and optimized in Technical SEO.
Es are also things that should be avoided in the source code to optimize SEO performance:
1. excessive code
Unnecessary code can increase load time and degrade user experience.
2. hidden content
Hiding text from the reader's eye can result in penalties from search engines. This practice was used in the past to influence the ranking through text passages with keyword stuffing. However, this "technique" does not provide any added value for the user. Conversely, Google classified hidden content as a factor for negative ranking.
3. canonical HTML error
In the source code, the canonical links can be assigned to an original URL, for example, if duplicate content is knowingly used. Here, however, es can lead to inaccuracies due to forwarding errors. The monitoring of the canonical tags is therefore one of the basic SEO services.
4. multiple head elements or title tags
Using automation tools, two header areas can be created in HTML documents. This has a negative impact on search engine results and should be prevented. This happens especially often with incorrect Open Graph settings.
5. many / wrong script codes
Loading time speeds are among the most important SEO factors of a website. It therefore makes sense to remove JavaScripts and all other applications that are no longer needed from the source code at es . They delay the loading time and create bugs when loading the website.
6. anchor texts & internal linking
From the source code, the webbot finds its way through a website with the help of the internal links. Bad anchor texts and internal links that lead to 404 error pages must therefore be corrected. The wording of the anchor texts should always match the target URL as closely as possible.
In summary, the source code of a website is of crucial importance for SEO performance. It should be clean, structured and optimized to provide an optimal experience for both search engines and users.