Ubersuggest is a powerful feature designed to help website owners identify and fix SEO issues. One common recommendation generated by our Site Audit tool is "No Doctype Declared." This article will help users understand, locate, and resolve this issue using Ubersuggest.

What does "Pages Don’t Have Doctype Declared" Mean?

This issue refers to webpages that lack a doctype declaration. The doctype declaration informs the browser about the HTML or XHTML version used on the site. Declaring a doctype is crucial for loading the page quickly and correctly, ensuring that the HTML is rendered properly, and the content is displayed as intended.

Why is Declaring a Doctype Important?

Pages without a declared doctype can harm your SEO in several ways:

User Experience: Missing a doctype can cause HTML to load improperly, leading to content display issues and poor user experience.

Search Engine Ranking: Slow load times and poor user experience can negatively impact your search engine rankings, as search engines favor user-friendly pages. Declaring a doctype is essential for ensuring optimal performance.

Content Accessibility: Without proper HTML rendering, content may not be accessible to all users and devices, limiting your page’s reach and visibility.

How to Identify and Fix the Issue?

Use the Site Audit tool to identify which pages lack a doctype declaration.

Open the HTML file of the problematic page and add the appropriate doctype declaration at the very beginning. For example:

Expert Tips and Additional Resources

Optimizing every aspect of your site's structure is essential for effective SEO. For a thorough SEO checklist to help you maximize your efforts, check out this article from Neil Patel's blog: The Complete SEO Checklist.