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DEV-HTM-01Should1 of 7 in HTM

Wrap each page's primary content in one clearly delimited main area

Level
Should

Recommended: skip it only for a reason you can name.

Documentation

Documented

At least one cited Google document states or supports it.

Area
HTMPage structure and HTML
Covered

Automatic

Decided from one URL.

Why it matters

Google extracts every element to tell header, navigation and main content apart, treats the main content as very important and clusters pages by it. A page that uses a different template can be reported as "Crawled - currently not indexed" because Google cannot tell where its content is, even when its quality matches indexed pages.

How to meet it

Use semantic landmarks: header, nav, one main (with article where it fits), aside and footer. Main content is any part that directly helps the page achieve its purpose: text, images, video, a tool, user-generated content such as comments or reviews, content in tabs, every heading and the visible title; Gary Illyes said it is what Google considers when ranking a page, and that what a site puts in its navigation or header tells Google the site does not particularly care about that content. Keep the h1, the opening paragraph, key images and the facts the page is about inside main, near the top, and use the same structure across templates of one type.

How to test it

Template validation finds one main element per page, with the page's h1 inside it; the rendered HTML in URL Inspection shows the main text inside main; the DevTools accessibility tree shows the landmarks.

How Regensbot covers it

AutomaticNeedsOne URL

Decided from one URL.

An audit reads the response, the headers, the HTML, robots.txt, the sitemaps and the structured data, and the finding shows the evidence it saw.

How verdicts workWhat you connect

Sources

Google documents03

  1. 01What is canonicalizationGoogle Search Central (opens in a new tab)
  2. 02In-depth guide to how Google Search worksGoogle Search Central (opens in a new tab)
  3. 03General GuidelinesGoogle Search Quality Rater Guidelines (PDF, 11 September 2025) (opens in a new tab)

Claims in the knowledge base14

  1. D2-C028ConsistentHow is HTML interpretedShown on screen
  2. D2-C309ConsistentUnderstanding what's on a pageShown on screen
  3. D2-C310SourceUnderstanding what's on a pageGoogle's documentation
  4. D2-C713ConsistentDeciding what goes in the index?Said on stage
  5. D2-C029n/aHow is HTML interpretedThe author's interpretation
  6. D2-C861ConsistentUnderstanding what's on a pageSaid on stage
  7. D2-C862ConfirmedUnderstanding what's on a pageSaid on stage
  8. D2-C863ConfirmedUnderstanding what's on a pageSaid on stage
  9. D2-C864ConfirmedUnderstanding what's on a pageSaid on stage
  10. D2-C865ConsistentUnderstanding what's on a pageSaid on stage
  11. D2-C867ConsistentUnderstanding what's on a pageSaid on stage
  12. D2-C868ConsistentUnderstanding what's on a pageSaid on stage
  13. D2-C870SourceUnderstanding what's on a pageGoogle's documentation
  14. D2-C871SourceUnderstanding what's on a pageGoogle's documentation

Claim IDs refer to the Search Central Live 2026 knowledge base. The knowledge base (opens in a new tab)

Confirmed
Google's documentation states the same thing.
Consistent
Google's documentation supports it without stating it.
Source
The claim is the cited document itself.
n/a
Nothing to verify: a quotation, framing, opinion or analysis.

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