HTML tables vs CSS positioning and how it relates to Google/SEs

Hi.

I've built a website and decided to use html tables to position the layout. I find that tables seem to be more consistent in the way they render across all browsers. It seems that CSS is all the rage these days and I am wondering if it is easier for the google bots to index pages done in CSS or not.

I get this vague hint that CSS is important from reading SEO threads.. But nobody seems to go into details (normally not the focus of the threads)..

Any help would be appreciated -Daniel

 

Most of the previous threads on this have titles such as tables vs. divs.

In a nutshell alot of designers prefer divs because there is alot less code and therefore more content for the search engines to read. There are lots of reasons, but that may be the most popular one. On the downside div style pages can be a pain in terms of making them appear the same across the various browsers.

I use both depending on the application, but there are alot of opinions for and against either style.

 

IMHO there are two advantages CSS layouts have over table layouts for SEO purposes.

1. CSS layouts give you better control over the logical flow of content. Table layouts will always have content from left-to-right, top-top-bottom. So a search engine might pick up part of a menu on the left, then part of your body content. With CSS you can structure it so it picks up your content first even with a menu on the left (as an example).
2. CSS layouts generally have less "clutter" than table layouts. Although improper use of divs/spans can quickly make the opposite true

At the end of the day search engines are smart enough to strip out table tags anyway, so it's not going to make a huge difference. The golden rule is simply to remember a SE sees your source code, so if that is logical and tidy the SE will have an easier time reading and indexing it.

 

I really dont want to get into the debate of wether tables or CSS layouts are best cos this subject has come up so often in each forum I use and I am just so bored of it now.

But I will say the sites I have seen converted from tables to CSS layouts have had some pretty amazing changes in results in search engines.

 

This is true, CSS layouts are less cluttered and render quickly, however the work involved to create cross-browser compliant sites is a pain, and consuming time that you should better use to improve your content an promote your site.

The sooner you develop "the perfect" CSS layout, the quicker you will find that any minor detail does not render properly using this or that browser, fixing it makes the original fail, etc. etc., not to mention how most layouts are literally destroyed when the surfer set the browser window to small even if it is "fluid" made.

After tedious hours developing countless CSS designs and testing them in all browsers I have found that the best solutions is use tables but the less the better.

For SEO purposes, use pure CSS divs above the fold and then up to three small, css-styled, not nested tables, instead of an old-fashioned large one.

 

I know what you mean. CSS sometimes makes me want to pull my hair out! It's an extremely bad implementation of a standard.. but we battle on I guess..