Ok, I have seen this over and over and over. Here, in newsletters and other forums.

"Do a search and check the top 5 or 10 results for compliancy or non-compliancy.".

I am not an SEO professional nor do I design websites for a living.

The one thing I have never seen mentioned is the percentage comparisons of the  WWW.

What I mean here is that the WWW has been around for years and how long has the issue of a validated website been around? From the billions of websites out there I am sure the number of non-validated sites is extremely higher than a validated site. So it would only stand to reason that the results will be skewed toward the non-validated sites.

There are a lot of other elements that are used for displaying the top ten results for a search.
Using search results for validity to not build a compliant site is weak at the very best.

For example;
I perform a search for "purple motiff" results return 1million websites. Lets say of these one million  that 100 thousand are compliant sites. You have 999 thousand non-compliant websites. What do you think the chances of having half of the top ten results display a compliant site are?

Now let's reverse this, 999 thousand compliant sites and 100 thousand non-compliant sites. Do you think that the results would still show more non-compliant sites?

IMHO
Trying to use this as a valid excuse to not build a compliant site is like saying, "I know it is difficult for everyone to get around, but build the bathroom in the living room because it is too much trouble for me to walk down the hall".

Will everyone agree to have a compliant site? NO
Do you have to build a compliant site? NO
Should you build a compliant site? Only you can answer this.

Will everyone agree to have a compliant site? NO
Do you have to build a compliant site? NO
Should you build a compliant site? Only you can answer this.

I agree.

Do the best you can. I have some very successful non-compliant sites and some less successful compliant sites.

I believe it comes down to site functionality and meeting customers needs so they can make a purchase with confidence at a price they are happy with.

matte wrote:

site functionality and meeting customers needs

Exactly Matte. This is what it is all about.

The biggest reasons for having a compliant site is what almost everyone does agree on;
Functional from the start to the purchase.
Customers needs(accessability) for everyone.

I do not use any myself but, with some of my volunteer work I have had the opportunity to play around with some assistive devices on countless websites. There are a lot of website owners that are missing the opportunity to have their products available to over a 100 million additional people worldwide because they cannot navigate, use or even view the website.

Should also be noted that a website does not have to have a solid green light from the W3C to meet most of the requirements for assistive device technology. The green is just an assurance that your site does meet most requirements.

Hi,

Nice Insight!

There were lots of recent discussions
on complaint sites and this gives
a different insight. I also think
being complaint is not a huge
factor in SE rankings "these days"
(Who knows the future :-)

The thing matters is the rich text
content and well known inbound links.

Surely, being complaint puts you
in the safe side. So, when some one
building a new site this advisory.
But should you change your existing
one just to fulfill this factor?
I think, you shouldn't

webgaya.

Webgaya wrote:

There were lots of recent discussions
on complaint sites and this gives
a different insight. I also think
being complaint is not a huge
factor in SE rankings "these days"
(Who knows the future :-)

Agreed, as more and more compliant sites are added, "IMO" the search results will start to sway.

The thing matters is the rich text
content and well known inbound links.

Just two of the factors we know for sure that are used for ranking a site. Again, "IMO" I believe the future algo's of the SE's will start to consider the accessibility of a website.

Surely, being complaint puts you
in the safe side. So, when some one
building a new site this advisory.
But should you change your existing
one just to fulfill this factor?
I think, you shouldn't.

Thank you, both points are personal calls.

For more thought.

1. There are ways to change your page styling for the blind, hard of sight visitor or those that cannot use a mouse.
You do not have to go thru an entire rebuild of an existing site. You could simply add different styling pages that will display compliant or at least accessible pages to people that use assistive devices.

2. If the future of the SE's is to start considering the agreed on advantages of a compliant site and you wait until this happens, would this not throw you into a whirlwind if compliant websites take over the ranking positions of your non-compliant site?

Again, I want to make sure everyone understands these are just my thoughts and not placed to be taken as gospel.