Best HTML5 Semantics for SEO article and section?

Question

This question is in regards to the article section and aside tags as it relates to best SEO practices. I've seen some tutorials teach that you should place an article tag and inside the article tag various section tags. However some books I've read have it the other way around and place sections and nested in them are article tags. Which of the two methods is the best, for the best SEO results and why? Obviously our job is to not only give the consumer the best looking site, but also a site that is SEO friendly.

<article>
    <section>
        <aside>...</aside>
    </section>
    <section>...</section>
    <section>...</section>
</article> 

<section>
    <article>...</article>
    <article>...</article>
    <article>
        <aside>...</aside>
    </article>
</section>

Doublecross

Or maybe they have no real impact on SEO as far as which method you choose, if that is the case, than that is fine as well. – Doublecross

I have no idea why people advise particular nesting rules. The HTML5 spec is quite clear, Articles indicate the semantics of their content, sections do likewise, but all combinations of nesting are equally appropriate. – Infliction

Answer 1

This has nothing to do with SEO, the two structures have a different meaning:

• A list of blog posts could be a section with an article for each blog post.

• A long blog post could be an article with a section for each section/chapter.

See also my answer with markup examples.

Kept

Answer 2

In general, search engines are capable of recognizing articles and sections even when such tags are not used. These only help establishing the relevancy and the context of your content.

From an SEO perspective, it does not matter whether you embed one with another or vice-versa. Search engines don't really care. You are not gonna get a ranking boost for using one or the other.

Haugh