HTML is the “code” that lies underneath all websites. It’s important for web design, but also for SEO (Search Engine Optimization). People thus often ask me, “How do I view Source for a website?” It’s not hard. Let’s investigate.
Video: How to View Source for SEO – Viewing the HTML Source Code
Watch “How to View Source for SEO – Viewing the HTML Source Code” on YouTube
WHY VIEW SOURCE IN THE FIRST PLACE?
First, you need to know the why. HTML is the root code to any website, and the major tags such as the TITLE TAG, META DESCRIPTION TAG, and A HREF or ANCHOR tag provide clues to Google as to what a web page is about, that is what its keyword targets are. HTML communicates not only to the browser but also to Google! Thus, as good SEO’s, we need and want to be able to peer into our competition. Viewing source is one way to do this. (I’m going to use one of my favorite SEO-friendly Pages (https://www.allstate.com/motorcycle-insurance.aspx) for this exercise.
VIEWING ALL THE SOURCE CODE
Second, there are a few easy methods. Generally, I just “right click” with my mouse and then select “view source.” That’s the easiest way and it works on all browsers – Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. Sometimes you do need to move around to find a nice, blank space for this. Alternatively, CTRL+U (on a PC) or COMMAND+U (on a Mac) will also get you to the source code. You can then analyze the source code for your SEO purposes by looking for key tags.
INSPECT ELEMENT
Third, another good trick is to hover over some text or a graphic and then “Right click” but rather than selecting view source, try “inspect element.” This doesn’t always work. If the “Force is with you,” then it will zero into your source code and show you precisely the element you were looking at visually with the Browser.
Good luck!
