Publisher 2003 and SEO

[waterprism]

Hi,

I've discovered the web design aspect of Publisher recently and I
quite like it having used notepad for html for ages. There's just one
thing I'd like to find out. Publisher seems to create very heavy .htm
source files. Could this have an effect on SEO at all? Do you think
searchbots might have any trouble picking through all the extra
*stuff* Publisher adds to a source file? Or if it's a really long page
with lots of onpage content and lots of Publisher 2003 *stuff*, might
a bot just stop crawling after the first little bit and leave a lot of
onpage content uncrawled?

Thanks,

waterprism

 

[DavidF]

Publisher is often criticized for 'code bloat' and this can especially be a
problem if you produce your web files in Pub 2003 by doing a 'Save As > Web
page'. This method results in 'rich' html code that is filled with Office
tags that makes the code 'round tripable'...in other words you can import
the .htm files back into Publisher and the Office tags tell Publisher how to
lay out the page, etc. etc. Bottom line, is you want to File > Publish to
the Web and this produces 'filtered' html code that is much cleaner, much
less bloat. SEO??...I don't think the amount of code makes any difference,
but you definitely want to go the filtered code route.

Also with Publisher 2003 be sure to go to Tools > Options > Web tab and
uncheck the option to "rely on VML...". This will go a long way toward
helping produce cross browser compatible code. Be sure to test your site in
both IE and FF. If you adjust your layout and formatting to work and render
correctly in those two browsers, your pages will also render correctly in
the other major browsers.

DavidF

 

[waterprism]

Publisher is often criticized for 'code bloat' and this can especially bea
problem if you produce your web files in Pub 2003 by doing a 'Save As > Web
page'. This method results in 'rich' html code that is filled with Office
tags that makes the code 'round tripable'...in other words you can import
the .htm files back into Publisher and the Office tags tell Publisher howto
lay out the page, etc. etc. Bottom line, is you want to File > Publish to
the Web and this produces 'filtered' html code that is much cleaner, much
less bloat. SEO??...I don't think the amount of code makes any difference,
but you definitely want to go the filtered code route.

Also with Publisher 2003 be sure to go to Tools > Options > Web tab and
uncheck the option to "rely on VML...". This will go a long way toward
helping produce cross browser compatible code. Be sure to test your site in
both IE and FF. If you adjust your layout and formatting to work and render
correctly in those two browsers, your pages will also render correctly in
the other major browsers.

DavidF







- Show quoted text -

Thanks David. Appreciate your help. That is how I've got it right now.
As long as search engine results aren't affected by the code bloat,
I'm fine with all the extra stuff it adds : )

 

[DavidF]

I really don't think the code bloat will affect the search engines...if the
webbots can crawl the entire internet, a little extra code on your site
shouldn't be an issue. Be sure to add the SE information Tools > Web Page
Options.

But seriously, you should realize that the extra code will take longer to
load, and if a viewer is using a dial-up connection they would appreciate
the filtered code. Also be sure to test your pages in FireFox and make sure
the rich code doesn't create a cross browser issue.

One other tip...be sure to compress your graphics:

Reference: Compress graphics file sizes to create smaller Publisher Web
pages (2003):
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HA011266301033.aspx

DavidF

Publisher is often criticized for 'code bloat' and this can especially be
a
problem if you produce your web files in Pub 2003 by doing a 'Save As >
Web
page'. This method results in 'rich' html code that is filled with Office
tags that makes the code 'round tripable'...in other words you can import
the .htm files back into Publisher and the Office tags tell Publisher how
to
lay out the page, etc. etc. Bottom line, is you want to File > Publish to
the Web and this produces 'filtered' html code that is much cleaner, much
less bloat. SEO??...I don't think the amount of code makes any difference,
but you definitely want to go the filtered code route.

Also with Publisher 2003 be sure to go to Tools > Options > Web tab and
uncheck the option to "rely on VML...". This will go a long way toward
helping produce cross browser compatible code. Be sure to test your site
in
both IE and FF. If you adjust your layout and formatting to work and
render
correctly in those two browsers, your pages will also render correctly in
the other major browsers.

DavidF







- Show quoted text -

Thanks David. Appreciate your help. That is how I've got it right now.
As long as search engine results aren't affected by the code bloat,
I'm fine with all the extra stuff it adds : )