It takes a certain amount of code to format website text.
The ratio of text to HTML refers to how much text you have versus how much code your page uses. There is no magical number or average ratio, as every website has different text and code requirements. Generally speaking, a "good" ratio is to have somewhere between 25 to 70 percent of your page as text. This means that your HTML is probably well-developed and your page's content isn't bloated with spammy content or stuffed with keywords.
Other People Are Reading
How to Indent the Second Line in CSS How to Allergy Proof Your Home
Understanding Ratio
Your text to HTML ratio is almost always going to be skewed higher toward HTML, as it takes a certain amount of code to create a functional and valid website. The ratio refers to each individual page on your website, not the whole of the website. This means that your index page may have a ratio of 30 percent but your portfolio might have a ration of 60 percent. You can use services to check your page ratio, such DevSEO's ratio check or SitePoint's DOM Monster bookmarklet.
Cutting Down on Code
While you should never remove code that brings function and design to your website, you should also design a page that uses the absolute minimum for code as possible. By using the least code, you create a smaller page with better loading speeds. You also help cut down on the ratio by linking to external files for Javascript and CSS. Make sure that the code you're using is valid; you can check your page against W3C -- World Wide Web Consortium -- standards at validator.w3.org.
Other Elements
You can't count on text-to-HTML ratio exclusively when assessing your website's content, as other factors can skew the ratio into making it seem like you have significantly more code than content. Examples of this are images, videos and flash. You may use these elements within your content to convey your message, but in a ratio checker they would only register as code. When measuring the ratio of your website, keep these factors in mind.
SEO
You may have heard somewhere down the line that a page with more text than HTML will rank better in search engines, but there isn't really any fact to back up this claim. This stems from the way search engines check pages; if a page is larger than 100k, everything after that is ignored. By keeping your code clean and valid, it lowers the amount of code and thus the size of your page. What's more likely to help a page do well with search engines is to ensure that the content of the page is clean, original and relevant.
