Javascript
-
Hi there,
Quick question:
Does Google parse javascript?
I have a html ad which contain the anchor text linking to one of our product pages, however the ad unit are javascript based and from this the code is not visible on page source through the browser.
Kind Regards
-
Yeah, I know can you believe it Anyway, look we know lots of websites are doing it, yes even the big brands and are ranking well due to this strategy, I suppose having a big budget to play with, the temptation is just too much.
I am paranoid also, isn't everyone in this industry, I mean if you do follow Google's guidelines, there is no way you are going to rank well for competitive keywords, I look across all industries, especially retail and they are all it.
You have got to be more aggressive I think to gain good SERPs
-
What? Google allows people to rank who have exact anchor text on sites they are so clearly paying for links on? Get out! No, I totally agree with you. It is pretty ridiculous what gets let through. It makes it really tough to do the "right" thing and follow Google's standards.
If I were you, I would look at how high value this domain is where you are placing the ad. If it has a really strong domain authority and a good reputation overall (it ranks, it gets traffic, it has decent social performance, etc.) then I would definitely keep the ad link set to "nofollow" just because it is more likely to be found since that site is higher profile. A low profile site you might get away with it.
That being said, I'm paranoid and I tend to err on the side of "nofollow" because I don't want to ever tell a client "Uh, yeah, you know that thing I did on that link...yeah, sorry Mr. Client, it got you penalized." Despite many flaws, Google is getting better at detecting these things so I don't want to put sites I manage in a situation where they could be at risk as a result of some Panda-on-steroids type change.
As for guest posting, is that really forcing it in a spammy way? I mean, if you build a relationship with a webmaster and get a guest post there as a result of that, then the guest post is a result of a natural relationship. If you are paying for the guest post, that would be spammy.
-
Thanks for the reply Matthew.
Is it really that spammy? I'm just trying to get the most out of my advertising.
Look it's far less spammy than what my competitors are doing, these guys are big brands, they have exact anchor text links on non-relevant websites, all the big players are doing it, i'm not saying monkey see monkey do, I just thought it was thinking outside the box a little rather than putting exact anchor text links on non-relevant websites, and the bizarre thing is, my competitors are ranking well for these keywords, and yes it's the only link building strategy they have and been doing so for years.
I'm sure it's not a big surprise to hear the above, even with the panda update, it just does not catch these websites out.
One of my main strategies is writing guest posts and these are improving the SERPs for the target keywords, if you sticking to the guidelines, even guest posting would not be allowed, I mean your deliberately forcing the back-link, Google says everything should come naturally, yeah right!
-
On the PR fall, was it just one link or several links? If it was just one link, it would be hard to believe the penalty for just that link was that severe. What about other factors - like domain authority in OSE, rankings, organic traffic, etc.? Did that change as a result of the follow/nofollow?
Gary, in response to your question - you are right, you do lose that second opportunity from having SEO value and traffic value. Honestly though I would play by Google's rules on this one and nofollow that link. I don't think the penalty would be so severe that you would lose rankings immediately but you don't want to get caught doing something spammy - there is no long term value there.
With that link no followed though what other link opportunities are on that site other than the ad? For instance, if it is a news website or blog (let's say) where this ad is placed, can you talk to the editors of that site about them interviewing you about the product you are promoting? Or, if it is a blog, can you write a guest post? What I'm getting at is then you can have the link from this website along with having the ad. That way you get the SEO value plus the traffic value from the same website.
-
I doubt that the fall in PR was because you did not have a nofollow.
-
Well, if you don't use the nofollow for a promotional link you risk your site to be penalized.
I experienced that, a fall from PR 5 to PR 4 for my home page at www.jobintourism.it. Then, a few days after that I had changed the link, filling in the correct value for the rel attribute, the PR was 5 again. It may be a dangerous game. -
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for the reply.
Ok, the ad is on an external website, usually these ads are just images pointing to our website, however I thought that by producing the ad in a way that the text on the ad can be read by search engines, I would get 2 benefits, first of all the ad will generate traffic to the website, plus it will pass SEO value to the website with the ability of being able to read the anchor text, OK, yes I have paid for this ad, however if I use a nofollow, surely this is a great opportunity lost in gaining a great back link from an authority website.
Thanks
-
Google does crawl some JavaScript. Here is a brief news update on that from last November: http://searchengineland.com/google-can-now-execute-ajax-javascript-for-indexing-99518
I have seen JavaScript elements get indexed in Google on some of my client's websites - especially simple JavaScript (for example, deep pages linked to using the document.write() method do get indexed and those deep pages are not linked elsewhere).
All that to say, if you are trying to use the link for pure SEO value then you really should pull the link out of JavaScript just to be 100% certain Google crawls that link and reaches the page. After all the link building and site architecture work, why risk Google not seeing an important link?
One final question back to you. You mentioned that this was an HTML ad. Is this an ad internally on your website or an external ad? If it is an internal ad, trying to drive traffic deeper into your website, then I would change that to plain HTML instead of JavaScript so that Google has the ability to access that page easily (and sees the internal promotion easily).
However, if it is an external ad that you are paying for on somebody else's website, that link should have a rel="nofollow". Here is Google's webmaster support section and they say very plainly "Links purchased for advertising should be designated as such." They go on to say that one of the ways to designate a paid link as advertising is by "[a]dding a rel="nofollow" attribute to the <a>tag". If that is the case, within the JavaScript, you can include the rel nofollow as part of the</a> <a>tag that is output.</a> <a></a> http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66736
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Javascript content not being indexed by Google
I thought Google has gotten better at picking up unique content from javascript. I'm not seeing it with our site. We rate beauty and skincare products using our algorithms. Here is an example of a product -- https://www.skinsafeproducts.com/tide-free-gentle-he-liquid-laundry-detergent-100-fl-oz When you look at the cache page (text) from google none of the core ratings (badges like fragrance free, top free and so forth) are being picked up for ranking. Any idea what we could do to have the rating incorporated in the indexation.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | akih0 -
Country Redirect Javascript
We are building a new site on .com and wish to redirect traffic from US to a dedicated US-specific version of the homepage , whereas international traffic will go to the standard homepage. We acknowledge the problems of IP redirection and googlebot crawling from US. So instead we are considering a Javascript pop-up if we recognise a US visitor (based on IP) which asks the user if they wish to view the US version or International version. We will store cookie of preferred selection for future visits. Within the site we will have a US/International selector. Can Moz community members confirm this is the best approach? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bjalc20110 -
Pagination, Javascript & SEO
Hi I need some help identifying whether we need to rethink the way we paginated product pages, On this page http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/workbenches when clicking page 1,2, etc - we have javascript to sort the results, the URL displayed and the URL linked to are different. e.g. The URL for these paginated pages is for example: page2 http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/workbenches#productBeginIndex:30&orderBy:5&pageView:list& Then the arrows either side of pagination, link to the paginated landing page e.g. http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/workbenches?page=3 - this is where the rel/prev details are - done for Google However - when clicking on this arrow, the URL loaded is different again - http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/workbenches#productBeginIndex:60&orderBy:5&pageView:list& & doesn't take you http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/workbenches?page=3 I did not set this up, but I am concerned that the URL http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/workbenches?page=3 never actually loads, but it's linked to Google can crawl it. Is this a problem? I am looking to implement a view all option. Thank you
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BeckyKey0 -
Can spiders crawl javascript navigation now?
I was reading Danny Dover's book and decided to try some websites and so far everyone I have looked at has had navigation that does not work with disabled javascript. Is this still as important as it was at the time of publish (2011)? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Sika220 -
Main content - javascript/ajax
Hi, On most of our pages Javascript is displaying our main content, so it doesn't show up on the page source and I assume isn't being crawled by Google to the best of its ability. It's also not showing up on MOZ's page grader and crawl results, making analysis and testing harder. What's the easiest way, without having to completely redo our website, to have this content crawled by search engines and moz?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | S.S.N0 -
404 with a Javascript Redirect to the index page...
I have a client that is wanting me to issue a 404 on her links that are no longer valid to a custom 404, pause for 10 seconds, then rediirect to the root page (or whatever other redirect logic she wants)...to me it seems trying to game googlebot this way is a "bad idea" Can anyone confirm/deny or offer up a better suggestion?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JusinDuff0 -
Charity project for local women's shelter - need help: will Google notice if you alter the document title with Javascript after the page loads?
I am doing some pro-bono work with a local shelter for female victims of domestic abuse. I am trying to help visitors to the site cover their tracks by employing a document.title change when the page loads using JavaScript. This shelter receives a lot of traffic from Google. I worry that the Google bots will see this javascript change and somehow penalize this site or modify the title in the SERPs. Has anyone had any experience with this kind of javascript maneuver? All help would be greatly appreciated!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jkonowitch0 -
Can obfuscated Javascript be used for too many links on a page?
Hi mozzers Just looking for opinions/answers on if it is ever appropriate to use obfuscated Javascript on links when a page has many links but they need to be there for usability? It seems grey/black hat to me as it shows users something different to Google (alarm bells are sounding already!) BUT if the page has many links it's losing juice which could be saved....... Any thoughts appreciated, thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TrevorJones0