Logo images and accessibility/SEO

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alex.barylski
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Logo images and accessibility/SEO

Post by alex.barylski »

Is it best to keep the logo as a external style using background-image or use an actual <img> tag to display the logo of any given site?

Is it better for accessibility or SEO or both? What do you think/find?
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Luke
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Post by Luke »

I do this:

Code: Select all

<h1 id="logo"><span>My Company Name</span></h1>

Code: Select all

#logo span {

    display: none;

}

#logo {

    width: 300px;

    height: 120px;

    background: #fff url(../images/logos/main.png) no-repeat left top;

}
Unless I don't find the company name to be the heading of the page. In which case I do this:

Code: Select all

<div id="logo"><span>My Company Name</span></div>
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

Hmmm...interesting idea. :)

My only comment is, when you use <hx> tags (Google, etc) count each instance. If you abuse certain tags because they are well known to bump up SE ranking, obviously you risk being red flagged.

The company name is seldomly what you are trying to optimize but rather the content and services, etc.

Any experience tweaking that and watching site rank?
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Luke
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Post by Luke »

It makes sense to me that the company name would be the heading on a page such as "About us" or "Contact Us", so like I said, on those type pages I'd use it as a heading. If you look at the page without CSS, it renders as a readable (and outlinable) document, which is the whole point. If it doesn't make sense to include it as a heading, don't (like I already said).
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RobertGonzalez
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Post by RobertGonzalez »

I do what Ninja does quite frequently myself. I tend to use only one H1 tag however, and move down in the heading tags as needed by the markup.
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

I guess the only way to find out is to try and see what happens :P

Thanks to ya both ;)
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Post by matthijs »

I think we should leave it to the search engines to decide what is normal use and what is abuse. Using an image replacement technique here and there cannot be a reason to penalize your site, in my opinion. I mean, so many modern css-based websites use it either in a logo or a nav, including the ones from the css-gurus, who wrote the books and which techniques have been followed by every one else. It would make no sense at all if all those sites would be penalized suddenly.

It would make sense if some spammer using the technique to fill his page with 100 <h1> elements full of vi***a spam using this technique would be banned.

For me, SEO means: worry about making a useful site for your users. If you succeed in that, the search engines will follow. I'm sure some people will disagree (including the ones messing with the system, filling my weblogs with spam, etc)
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Luke
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Post by Luke »

I totally agree matthijs. That's sort of what I was getting at when I made this comment:
If you look at the page without CSS, it renders as a readable (and outlinable) document, which is the whole point.
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Kieran Huggins
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Post by Kieran Huggins »

If you look at the page without CSS, it renders as a readable (and outlinable) document, which is the whole point.
And don't forget that in this case it may be more appropriate to use <img src="ff.png" alt="Firefox" />
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Luke
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Post by Luke »

:?:
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

For me, SEO means: worry about making a useful site for your users. If you succeed in that, the search engines will follow. I'm sure some people will disagree (including the ones messing with the system, filling my weblogs with spam, etc)
Good point. :)
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Todd_Z
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Post by Todd_Z »

Google's algorithm strives to index websites based on the content they provide. Sounds basic.

If you include display:none tags in the css, google's spiders will ignore the content. Furthermore, you will be at higher risk of being blacklisted.

How would something like <h1><span style="display:none;">super sweet seo text</span></h1> differ from the white text on white background practices that spammers try to get away with?

Short Answer: never use display:none
Longer Answer: use h1...h5 as they should be used. most general important header should be h1... and so on.

<img> tags and the alt property is crucial for SEO, tested and proven.
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Post by matthijs »

That's why I use text-indent:-9999px.

If you are really worried about a single headline being ignored by search engines, use plain text. But I wouldn't worry about it too much. I can't imagine a single h1 making a lot of difference, considering all other factors influencing search ranking. Even the complete markup of the page itself is not that important compared to incoming links.

As most people who claim stuff, I cannot back this up with hard figures/research :)
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Luke
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Post by Luke »

I have been considering using the text-indent trick. The only thing I don't like about it is that when you click a link, the focus box (or what-have-you) is all the way across from the left of the screen. This is really strange when you have links in the middle, or worse--floated to the right--of your content. At least in Firefox it does.
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

matthijs wrote:That's why I use text-indent:-9999px.

If you are really worried about a single headline being ignored by search engines, use plain text. But I wouldn't worry about it too much. I can't imagine a single h1 making a lot of difference, considering all other factors influencing search ranking. Even the complete markup of the page itself is not that important compared to incoming links.

As most people who claim stuff, I cannot back this up with hard figures/research :)
Haha...how true...of all of us. :P
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