I've always understood the search engines ignore code when it comes to determining uniqueness of content. However today I read an article by a supposed SEO expert who claims that they do hold the code against you so you shouldn't use templates when designing a site. I don't design from scratch and have no interest in learning right now - takes too much time right now. So I need to know which is correct, please?

He could be right, but I doubt it. Of course good code makes it easier for the major search engines to crawl your site, but I've never read where they penalize you for using templates.

Sounds unlikely.. what matters is the content, not the code used to display it. However if the code is messed up in some way and the spider can't extract the content properly then that is another matter. Browsers can be quite forgiving of invalid html so probably worth checking any template carefully.

I'm sure the Google spiders are smart enough to know content from code.

But they parse the HTL not content, don't they. I assume there are some truth in the worlds of that expert. In any case no one but ggole knows if that truth or not

I think a quick check for W3C validation on new sites can't hurt, and could help. It would certainly point out any glaring problems with your templates.

I have never heard that google will penalize you for using templates....Also, why would they care?

I don't think they do care. Again, why would they? Having a clean site though can't hurt.

Also, having a unique design will set you apart from those who have a design that a few hundred hosting sites use. Once a couple people see your design on a few other sites you lose a lot of credability.

Do you really think prospects are that perceptive? I think what happens more so, is that a lot of sites blend together and prospects see them as pretty much offering the same stuff - nothing really differentiating one from the one. The more your site stands out from the crowd - and out of that mix - the better off you are. Good point, Romes.

Thanks steve...Get a unique design and you will set your self apart from others. Getting your visitors to notice your products is how you will make sales..If your visitors see your site as just another hosting company then you will end up losing alot of customers.

Id agree entirely with both romes and steve, it destroys a brand when this happens and also opens your site even more so to phishing attacks of which you cannot really do anything to defend against the reason for this being that they may also have purchased the same template.

as such its not only SEO at risk through public templates.

Let's not forget that being unique is just part of the formula. Prospects still have to find your site somehow. I've been given reference to lots of great sites that don't show up on the first 50 pages of the major search engines - for any of their keywords. Searching for webhosting on Google returns over 44 million results. Welcome to SEO.

Yep..Choosing the right keywords that reflect your site will help people find your site when searching for web hosts.

I've never heard of that either and I don't believe it. I use a template on one of my sites and get the #1 google result for my keywords.