Learn Codin first and then SEO

How important is it to know how to code when doing SEO?

Should I learn how to code first and then learn SEO or learn SEO and then learn to code?

 

Learn coding and read up on SEO as you're doing it.
Speaking as someone who came to SEO from the marketing side, and now work in a team with other people who have really good technical knowledge - when you're approached about a webite that's obviously underperforming 8 times out of 10 it's due to technical problems in the site build

 

Thanks for your opinion on the subject, what do others think?

 

I think you can run a website without knowing a bit of coding but it is better to learn SEO to get more traffic.

 

Would books would you recommend to learn HTML And CSS and coding for SEO?

 

Personally I think if you plan to learn how to code, do it concurrently with learning how to do seo. Learning all the ins and outs of code can take a while. You can always go back and fix your site later once you learn more about code. Start a blog or something right away so that you can practice both code and seo. Most successful bloggers aren't really coders. With blogs and other formats there are a lot of great templates that require almost no html knowledge.

 

seo isnt as hard of a language to learn as actual coding is... but both go hand in hand

 

I choose to only learn SEO, there is enough to learn already without trying to learn code. I feel specialising in SEO is the best way forward for me.

 

Learn how to code first. Then learn how to make the Web sites you code accessible (and I don't just mean passing WCAG 2.0 validation either) and easy to use. Next, learn about information architecture. And then learn how to write for an online audience.

Once you've done that (and not given a thought about SEO), chances are you'll realize you already know about 80-85% that you need to know about SEO. The rest will be server optimization (mod_rewrite), keyword research, and link building.

Have some +rep+. I'm glad to see someone recognizing that poor code is often the cause of poor rankings. (Another major cause being poor links, such as blog comments, forum signatures, and most social media.)

Sure, but only if someone else has already done the hard work for you (in other words, use an off-the-shelf Theme, template or skin for a CMS). But even then you won't be optimizing the site, just making it search engine friendly. HUGE difference.

Disclaimer: I am a SitePoint Advisor. As such, many may think I'm promoting the following product from SitePoint in my capacity as an Advisor there. Truth is, I'm not - the book is THAT GOOD. (The last book was "HTML and XHTML Visual Quickstart Guide, 5th Edition by Elizabeth Castro, but the book is out of date and the 6th edition is nowhere near as good as its predecessor.)

Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way With HTML & CSS, 2nd Edition by Ian Lloyd.

I'm not saying this is a bad approach (no, really - I'm not), but if you do focus on this, specialize on keyword research and content optimization while learning how to code. Link building is pretty easy - just ask people to link to you with the keywords you want to rank well for.

SEO is not a language - it's a practice. But yes, you are right that they go hand in hand, since SEO is supposed to be a part of the Web development process, not an afterthought.

So, what do you specialize in when it comes to SEO? Keyword research? Content development and Web copywriting? Link building? I take it you leave the IA work and development to the technical people on your team? (Assuming you have a team, or work with one.)

 

My advice is first you make you own blogs , sites, and forum then do modification but it i enough if you have basic knowledge. Then start to SEO you blogs then you can learn your self. Your experience keep you in high position never break.............

 

Thanks guys for your oppinions. I think I will go with what Dan suggested and learn coding and building usable sites etc before moving onto SEO so I have a good understanding of everything.

 

Hi , What is the need to learn coding for SEO ??

SEO is not a developing job or designing job. It is all about content generation and link building plus some html editing(I know something else too). Major code editions should be done by an experienced programmer with the assistance of an SEO.


If you want to learn SEO you should start writing blogs and learn how to promote it. Or if you are going to design the template and start coding and then start content generation and then generating back links.....
You cannot succeed in the market. Let experts do the work which is relevant to it.

Template design...... should done by an experienced designer

Programming ---- Should done by an experienced programmer

Marketing/seo ---- Done by SEO consultant


It is the duty of SEO consultant to guide the programmer for url optimization and that kind stuff. Key word researching also should done by seo.

 

I think, the knowledge of coding is the very base of SEO.
Not only the web design, but more important the server communications with the 'outworld'.

I agree, that the main subject of SEO is marketing and promotion, and the rest should be left to professional designers, but knowledge is a must if you want to control the programmers work.

 

Or replace the designers/developers/programmers and bill your client for those services yourself.

That's why I handle everything myself (except the design - THAT I outsource).