I've checked some major websites if they would pass the markup validation and to my surprise none did! http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=h...tomatically)&doctype=Inline&group=0&verbose=1 http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=h...tomatically)&doctype=Inline&group=0&verbose=1 http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=h...tomatically)&doctype=Inline&group=0&verbose=1 http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=h...tomatically)&doctype=Inline&group=0&verbose=1 MSN IS VALID http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=h...tomatically)&doctype=Inline&group=0&verbose=1 Isn't HTML/CSS etc. validation necessary to get TOP search engine results?
Lol, true in the case of google and yahoo. But still, we have MSN which is perfectly valid without any errors Maybe there is some weight here.
You realize of course that the vast majority of the internet doesn't care at all about what w3 validates? Plus just because your site validates in their browser test does NOT mean it's valid code. it doesn't run any javascript, which means your site could validate perfectly and be a complete mess in reality. If the site works in FF, IE and the other secondary majors, it's just peachy. And, as long ad you can view the site correctly in Lynx, googlebot and others see it just fine too. So this really doesn't matter at all P.S. this site, and any site i've ever seen running vBulletin, doesn't pass either. http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=h...tomatically)&doctype=Inline&group=0&verbose=1
First off nice avatar. My thoughts to your question is that I am sure that google could really care less if they validate or not because after all they do own the internet . Although validation is not really necessary in order to gain search engine rankings it is best that you validate your site so that those who are blind can still at least hear the content that is on your page. If you do not want to take the time that is needed to validate your whole site (because the code can be tricky sometimes) then I would suggest that you at least write good alt tag descriptions for all images but do not go overboard by placing a bunch of keywords in their. For one it looks sloppy and two to does not help your viewers in any fashion. That's my thoughts, hope it helps.