I am surprised at how under-utilized some HTML elements are. I’m even more surprised that dl isn’t used much at all. The definition list has become somewhat of the ugly step-child to many web developers, and that shouldn’t be the case.
What is it? <dl> is an element tag which lets web developers declare a definition list. A definition list can be used in many ways. The most common use of a definition list is for defining a word or phrase.
Dave Raggett states:
The third and final kind of list is the definition list. This allows you to list terms and their definitions. This kind of list starts with a <dl> tag and ends with </dl> Each term starts with a <dt> tag and each definition starts with a <dd>.
There is another use–creating list elements that need to be described. One example is an image with a caption:
<dl>
<dt><img src=”/cc/ipod200.png” alt=”iPod Touch” /></dt>
<dd>The newest iPod Touch.
</dl>
By doing a bit of CSS the image will look great and have a spiffy caption. Doing so not only helps the page look nice, but also has SEO advantages of its own by including words near the image.
How does a word definition list have SEO advantages?
Google (along with some smaller search engines) has a tool in which you type [define:word or phrase], it then spits out websites which have a definition of the word. What people don’t realize is you can get into the [define:] results by using a definition list.
The definition list brings a whole new element to SEO. If you are lucky enough to get in the [define:] search results, Google will also give you a nice trust rank boost.
Written: Sep 26, 2007
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