Discourse already has a <header>, some <nav> & a <footer> tag, which is great! But it is currently missing the <main> tag. Would it be possible to wrap that around the main topic content?
Thanks,
Joshua
AI-generated summary
The discussion revolves around adding a <main> tag to wrap the main topic content in Discourse for better SEO. JoshuaH initiated the conversation, pointing out that Discourse already uses <header>, <nav>, and <footer> tags, and completing the semantic markup with the <main> tag could increase usability. awesomerobot asked for evidence of the <main> tag’s influence on SEO.
JoshuaH responded, stating that while there’s no direct evidence, the <main> tag can improve usability, which may result in better SEO. He cited John Mueller, Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google, who mentioned that semantic HTML helps Google better understand pages, and therefore, show them in search results for appropriate queries. Additionally, JoshuaH provided another quote from John Mueller, emphasizing the importance of semantic HTML for usability, compatibility, and SEO, although it may not be crucial for SEO.
Do you have any reference around how the <main> tag influences SEO?
Since Discourse already uses the <header>, <nav> & <footer> tag, it would make sense to complete the semantic markup with the <main> tag.
The <main> tag increases usability, the Apple Reader View uses it for example.
Although there’s no hard evidence it has a direct impact on SEO, it does increase usability possibily resulting in better SEO.
John Mueller (Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google) states the following:
“but it definitely helps us to better understand pages, so that we can show them better for the appropriate queries in search.”
Source: Semantic HTML Is Not A Google Search Quality Signal
Another quote from John Muller supporting the usability aspect:
John (Submitted Question) 29:48
Right. Cool. Let me run through some of the submitted questions and I’ll get back to those of you with your raised hands as well. Let’s see. The first one I have here is: do I need to mark up content on my page with HTML semantic elements, for example, the footer? Does it help somehow to understand the content for Google?John (Answer) 30:07
I think we talked about this very briefly with headings. But it’s essentially similar here. For some types of elements, it does give us a little bit more context about the content of your page. But things like the footer don’t really give us that much more information. So some amount of semantic HTML definitely makes sense for SEO. It definitely makes sense for usability and for compatibility across different browser types, all of that as well. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s important for SEO.
Source: Google Says Some Semantic HTML Elements Do Make Sense for SEO