Google: Many Top Sites Have Invalid HTML And Still Rank
by Admin | July 02, 2025

Google: Many Top Sites Have Invalid HTML And Still Rank
A recent discussion on Google’s Search Off the Record podcast challenges long-held assumptions about technical SEO, revealing that most top-ranking websites don’t use valid HTML.
Despite these imperfections, they continue to rank well in search results.
Search Advocate John Mueller and Developer Relations Engineer Martin Splitt referenced a study by former Google webmaster Jens Meiert, which found that only one homepage among the top 200 websites passed HTML validation tests.
Resourse: Search Engine Journal