W3C Validation, Is it worth it?

There is often debate about the use of the w3c validator for SEO. Is it really worth your time and effort to get that green “Passed” sign on the w3c validator?

On the whole…Yes

In terms of SEO…No, not really.

Rand Fishkin talks about w3c validation in his interview with Mike McDonald at WebProNews.com, he states-

“In terms of SEO and search engine ranking, the simple reality is: IT DOESN’T MATTER.  It never has mattered and I daresay it never will matter.  Can it hurt you to have valid code?  Certainly not.”

I would imagine that most of you would agree with this statement, and with good reason. I have worked with many sites that have hundreds of errors, and they still rank just as well as they do with valid code.

Even Google, Bing and Twitter have errors, that must tell you something? If Google are ignoring it, then so should you? Right?

Perhaps not! Although Google isn’t really bothered whether the validator shows up green or red for you, there are often accessibility issues that can mean visitors cannot see vital areas of your site. Although it may appear fine in your browser, it may not appear correctly in another.

Fixing errors won’t necessarily affect your SERP’s but it could ultimately affect your conversions.

There are 2 things I would suggest fixing at the very least, and they are XML Parsing Errors and Missing Alt Descriptions.

The more people that can view your site correctly, the more conversions you will make