New Tags In HTML5 - SEO Use?

I have just discovered two new tags in HTML5 - <header> and <hgroup>

Is anyone familiar with these?

They don't seem to do anything on a webpage except make it easier to read html5 code. I was wondering if there are some SEO implications.

Example: Where you have a left column layout, the left column text appears in the code before the main body text and is therefore read first by the SE spider. The main page title, sitting at the head of the main body text, comes halfway down the code and after the left column text. As a consequence, it seems, the left column text is given more importance than the main body text.

By wrapping the main body text title in <header> or <hgroup> tags, does this indicate to SE spiders that this is more important and thus more relevant?

Your opinions and comments are appreciated.

 

Hi Spider,

See if this explains it (better than I could) <header>

I had never seen it either and had to look lol

 

Thanks for trying, Magick. The explanation from Quackit was no better than the explanation at W3Schools.com, I'm afraid. Maybe they don't know what it does, either! When modifying their example code, it didn't do anything that I could see.

 

I got the impression the it really doesn't do much. it seems to be more like you'll see in templates and such <!-- #EndEditable --> where it shows you where your at on the page.

 

But do you think it will serve any SEO purpose? It seems like a good one for the spiders to pick up on - being able to identify an article header anywhere on the page. In the case of my site, the page's content header (title of the page's main content) is half way down the code because of the lefthand column. I have always worried about SE spiders thinking it is a subheading and that the content of the sidebar is the more important becuase it comes first.

 

I took the time to look through your site (and HTML) and I don't think you've anything to be concerned about. It all seems to be well laid out and modern. Keep an eye on your stats and page rank though. Between changes in coding and updates in search algorithms it's always a good idea to be aware.

 

Well, I have started adding the <header> tag to my pages. If I suddenly pop to the top of page #1, I'll let you know.

 

lol, I appreciate it. If it does I'll be running around adding it to a bunch of sites,