HTML, short for HyperText Markup Language, is the standard language used to structure content on web pages. It tells browsers and other systems what different parts of a page are, such as headings, paragraphs, links, images, lists, and tables. In SEO, HTML matters because search engines use it to interpret the meaning and organization of your content before deciding how it should appear in search results.
Clear, well structured HTML helps both people and crawlers understand your page quickly. Using headings in the right order, writing descriptive title tags and meta descriptions, and linking thoughtfully all make your content easier to interpret and more accessible. It also reduces ambiguity, since search engines rely on HTML signals like canonical tags, robots directives, and structured data to understand what should be indexed and which version of a page is the primary one. When your HTML is clean and intentional, it supports accurate indexing and a better user experience.