Learn to structure your web pages with semantic tags for better accessibility, SEO, and code clarity.
Semantic HTML refers to the practice of using HTML tags that accurately describe the meaning and purpose of the content they enclose. While it's possible to build a webpage using only generic `<div>` and `<span>` tags, this approach provides no context to the browser, search engines, or assistive technologies like screen readers. Semantic tags, introduced with HTML5, solve this problem. For example, instead of `<div id="header">`, you use `<header>`. Instead of `<div class="main-content">`, you use `<main>`. Other crucial semantic tags include `<nav>` for navigation links, `<article>` for self-contained content like a blog post, `<section>` for grouping related content, `<aside>` for supplementary content (like a sidebar), and `<footer>` for the bottom of a page. Using these tags has several key benefits. First, it dramatically improves accessibility. A screen reader can use semantic tags to announce different parts of a page, allowing a visually impaired user to navigate the content more efficiently. Second, it enhances Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Search engine crawlers can better understand the structure and importance of your content, which can lead to better search rankings. Finally, it makes your code more readable and maintainable for other developers (and your future self), as the structure of the document is self-evident from the tags used.