HTML Language Declaration

Published by Trove Digital on January 31, 2023

Tags

technical seo

The language declaration in HTML is an important aspect of website development that can impact both the accessibility and SEO of a website. The language declaration is specified using the “lang” attribute in the HTML code and provides information to search engines and assistive technologies about the language used on a webpage.

By declaring the language of a webpage, search engines can use this information to improve the relevancy and accuracy of their search results. For example, if a webpage is written in French and the language declaration is correctly specified as “fr”, search engines can use this information to display the page in search results for French-speaking users.

In addition to improving the accuracy of search results, the language declaration can also improve the accessibility of a website for users with disabilities. Screen readers and other assistive technologies use the language declaration to adjust their speech and pronunciation, making it easier for users with visual or hearing impairments to understand the content of a webpage.

The language declaration should be specified in the HTML code of a webpage using the “lang” attribute in the <html> tag. The value of the attribute should be a language code that is recognized by search engines and assistive technologies, such as “en” for English or “fr” for French.

It’s important to note that the language declaration should accurately reflect the language used on a webpage. If a webpage contains multiple languages, the “lang” attribute can be used multiple times to declare the language for specific sections of content.

In conclusion, the language declaration in HTML is an important aspect of website development that can impact both the accessibility and SEO of a website. By specifying the language used on a webpage, website owners can improve the accuracy of search results and make their site more accessible to users with disabilities. The language declaration should be specified using the “lang” attribute in the HTML code and accurately reflect the language used on the page.