What Is a Source Code?

On-page SEO is more than simply content. Your online text and blog certainly have a significant influence on how you rank in Google and other major search engines, but if you don’t audit your source code on a regular basis, you’re missing a critical piece of the puzzle.
It is vital to comprehend what is in your source code. The site may appear to be attractive, but there might be malicious gremlins lurking in your code.

Various SEO tools can be quite beneficial in aiding your analysis, but nothing beats human being SEO knowledge. When the proper tools are paired with the right SEO intelligence, remarkable results may be obtained.
No matter how many SEO tools you employ, you will ultimately find yourself gazing at a website’s source code.
So, what exactly is a source code?
In this article, we’ll look at what a source code is, its importance in SEO, how to locate a website’s source code, and if coding is required in SEO.

Let’s jump right in.

What Is a Source Code?

A source code is essentially the code that web browsers “read” to determine how to display the contents of a web page. Google and other search engines analyze your source code to determine the topic of your site.

The source code, in other words, is a computer program that is translated into a machine language and compiled in image and function. A website’s HTML code is also known as source code. Source code is an important element of SEO since it specifies how a webpage should be executed and provides information about potential optimization opportunities. As a result, source code optimization is a component of technical SEO.

It is the programming that powers any website or piece of software. In the case of websites, this code may be read by anybody using a variety of technologies, including your web browser. This is a little more challenging for Android and iOS phones.

The source code of a website is crucial for diagnosing most issues with it. You may also view the source code of any website for educational reasons and learn how it works. However, unless expressly permitted, we advise against copying the code for your own website, since this may infringe on the developer’s or website owner’s copyright.

To view a website’s source code, special web analysis tools, compilers, and browsers can be utilized. Browsers such as Google Chrome, Firefox, and Edge have a simple function for displaying the page source code. Typically, web source code is spread across many lines.

Why Is a Source Code Important?

While the source code is the foundation of a computer program for programmers, it is an essential aspect for internet marketers that is hidden from normal users. SEO problems in the source code can be easily discovered and corrected.

The source code of a website includes extra vital information. You may easily identify hidden links, for example, by studying the source code. Furthermore, the source code provides crucial information about the CMS being used, as well as markup or metadata in the Dublin Core, such as meta description or meta title.

Another benefit of the source code is that it shows the canonical tags and content. It can also help you find tracking codes for marketing reasons.
The correct execution of a web page’s source code can be regarded as a ranking factor by search engines such as Google. A faulty source code might cause a website’s functioning to suffer, resulting in a drop in ranking. The text-to-code ratio may also be used to improve on-page SEO.

Source code optimization is also crucial for lowering a website’s loading time. Because loading time is considered a ranking factor, optimization of the source code is required. 

Crawlers can also find and index content more quickly with lean source code. As a result, crawling a single page takes less time, and crawl depth may be increased. In general, the simpler a website’s source code, the faster bots like Googlebot can crawl the page; considering Google receives approximately 86,000 searches every second.

Source Code FAQ 

What is the source code of the page?

A website’s HTML code is also known as source code. Source code is an important element of SEO since it specifies how a webpage should be executed and provides information about potential optimization opportunities. As a result, source code optimization is a component of technical SEO.

How can I locate a website’s source code?

Viewing the real code is the first step in reviewing the source code of your website. This is simple to accomplish in any online browser. The keyboard instructions for reading your webpage source code on both PC and Mac are listed below.

PC

• Chrome: CTRL + U. Alternatively, you may click on the strange-looking key with three horizontal lines in the top right corner. Then, under “Tools,” pick “View Source.”
• Opera: CTRL + U. You may also right-click on the webpage and choose “View Page Source.”
• CTRL + U in Firefox (That is, press and hold the CTRL key on your keyboard.) Press the “u” key while holding down the CTRL-key.) Alternatively, go to the “Firefox” menu and select “Web Developer,” then “Page Source.”
• Edge/Internet Explorer:  CTRL + U. Alternatively, right-click and select “View Source.”
  

Mac

• Chrome: Go to “View,” then “Developer,” and finally “View Source.” You may also right-click and choose “View Page Source.” Option+Command+U is the keyboard shortcut.
• Safari: Option+Command+U is the keyboard shortcut. You may also right-click on the webpage and choose “Show Page Source.”
• Firefox: Right-click and pick “Page Source,” or go to your “Tools” menu, select “Web Developer,” and then click on “Page Source.” Command + U is the keyboard shortcut.

You’ll need to know how to search for items in the source code once you’ve learned how to see it. The same search capabilities that you use for normal online surfing are usually applicable to searching your source code. CTRL + F (for Find) commands can help you rapidly search your source code for crucial SEO components.

Is coding required for SEO?

The simple answer is no, SEO does not generally need much (or any) hands-on coding. You can perform an excellent job of SEO without touching any code. But the broader answer is that knowing how programming works, or even being able to perform some coding yourself, is always a beneficial skill to have.

The extent to which SEO Specialists deal with code will be determined by the nature of their work—each one is unique and comes with its own set of expectations. If you work for a major corporation with a dedicated development team or IT department reporting to you, the digital tools you already have will most certainly suffice.

That being said, the more efficiently you can explain your demands to that team—members of which may speak Developers’ but not SEO’s language—the better. When you approach a Developer with a request, you’ll at least have an idea of how large an ask you’re making.

It’s Definitely in the Code

Hopefully, this article has given you a better understanding of the source code.

SEO is critical in today’s digital era, and while you have little influence over what Google does, you can improve your website to get the highest potential rating in search results.

When doing SEO audits, you will eventually find yourself neck-deep in code. And when you do, it all boils down to your understanding of what’s right, wrong, and really, truly wrong. 

You can nip SEO problems in the bud if you know what you’re looking at and what could appear to be amiss. On the other hand, if you overlook those hazardous parts of code and leave them untreated, the site in question is vulnerable to SEO damage. 

Spending time establishing the appropriate tags and code for your site will reward you with increased visitors and improved search rankings. 

The good news is, we’re here to help. Reach out to us for your SEO needs and see your conversions sky-rocket!