| title | date | submitter | tags | discussion | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I want the `ad` element |
2019-08-02 17:29:17 UTC |
Adam Hindman |
|
Ads are an important part of the web, but there is currently no way to describe them meaningfully in HTML. The spec suggests using the aside element, but that's not quite right, is it? For one thing, an aside is meant for tangential content, but ads are often the focus of a page. There should be a way to wrap arbitrary elements (not just banner ads, but sponsored articles and videos) in a descriptive tag that lets visitors and indexers know the purpose of the content.
A corollary to this is that in order for it to be valuable, search engines and browsers would have to reward the use of the ad element by giving preference to sites that used it correctly, the same way they already reward the use of other semantic tags to describe a page.