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What does 'Good Text-to-HTML Ratio' mean in Site Audit?

Good Text-to-HTML Ratio

Description

Your page has a good text-to-HTML ratio of 25% or higher.

How to Fix

No action needed. Your text-to-HTML ratio is good.

Detailed Analysis

A good text-to-HTML ratio is a crucial aspect of on-page SEO that influences how search engines perceive the quality and relevance of a webpage. Let's delve into the specifics of this issue:

1. What Causes This Issue

A good text-to-HTML ratio indicates a healthy balance between the amount of actual text content and the HTML code used to create the page structure. This metric is calculated by dividing the amount of text on a page by the total amount of HTML code.

Causes of Low Text-to-HTML Ratio:

  • Excessive HTML Code: Overuse of inline CSS, JavaScript, or unnecessary HTML tags.
  • Minimal Content: Pages with little actual text content, such as image-heavy pages with limited descriptive text.
  • Embedded Elements: Heavy reliance on embedded multimedia elements without accompanying descriptive text.
  • Complex Code Structures: Use of frameworks or themes that generate excess code.

2. Why It's Important

  • Search Engine Crawling: A higher text-to-HTML ratio can make it easier for search engine bots to crawl and understand the main content of your page, as there's less "noise" from excessive code.
  • User Experience: A good balance ensures that users find meaningful content without unnecessary delays caused by loading excessive code.
  • Relevance and Ranking: Pages with a higher ratio of text are often seen as more relevant or informative, potentially improving search rankings.
  • Page Load Speed: Less HTML code can lead to faster page loading times, which is crucial for both user experience and SEO.

3. Best Practices to Prevent Issues with Text-to-HTML Ratio

  • Optimize HTML: Minimize the use of unnecessary HTML tags, and remove redundant code.
  • Externalize CSS and JavaScript: Use external files for CSS and JavaScript instead of inline styles and scripts.
  • Focus on Quality Content: Ensure that your page contains substantial and relevant text content that provides value to the users.
  • Use Efficient Code: Adopt clean and efficient coding practices, and consider using frameworks or CMS themes that prioritize minimal code.
  • Compress and Minify: Use tools to minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to reduce file sizes and improve load times.
  • Use of Semantic HTML: Utilize semantic HTML tags (like <article>, <section>, <header>, etc.) to improve the structure and accessibility of content.

4. Examples of Good and Bad Cases

Good Case:

  • A blog page with 1000 words of well-structured content, using minimal and clean HTML code, external stylesheets, and JavaScript.
  • A product page with detailed descriptions, reviews, and specifications, with images optimized and text content as the primary focus.

Bad Case:

  • A landing page predominantly made up of large images and videos with little to no accompanying text content.
  • A webpage with a large amount of inline styles and scripts, making the HTML code bloated, with minimal actual text content.

By maintaining a good text-to-HTML ratio, you ensure that your pages are not only search engine friendly but also provide a fast, accessible, and engaging experience for users. This balance is essential for achieving optimal SEO performance.