Best way to re-order page elements based on search engine users
-
Both versions of the page has essentially same content, but in different order. One is for users coming from Google (and google bot) and other is for everybody else.
Questions:
- Is it cloaking?
- what will be the best way to re-order elements on the page: totally different style sheets for each version, or calling in different divs in a same style sheet?
- Is there any better way to re-order elements based on search engine?
Let me make it clear again: the content is same for everyone, just in different order for visitors coming from Google and everybody else. Don't ask me the reason behind it (executive orders!!)
-
I think we were confused about how the actual pages differ? Is the visible content Google is getting different, or is it just source code. Without giving away too many details, can you explain how the content/code is different?
-
Both versions meaning, (1) for users coming from Google and (2) coming from everywhere else- yahoo, direct load, e-mail links etc.
-
Agreed - if you're talking about source-code order, it can be considered cloaking AND it's not very effective these days. Google seems to have a general ability to parse the visual elements of your site (at least, site-wide, if not page-by-page). In most cases, just moving around a few code elements has little or no impact. It used to make a difference, but general consensus from people I've talked to is that it hasn't for a couple of years. These days, it can definitely look manipulative.
-
If you're stuck on doing this, I would recommend using a backend programming language like .Net or PHP to detect the Google Bot and generate a completely different page. That being said, it's highly black hat, and I wouldn't recommend doing anything close to it. Google doesn't like being fooled and has stated it penalizes for sites that try to display different content to the bot and users who browse the site normally.
-
I am guessing you are trying to reorder the sequence of HTML or on-page copy / H1 tags or something like that to essentially get the maximum benefit. If that's the case, then it's absolutely not recommended. Anything you are trying to do that only helps your site rank better, unfortunately is a form of cloaking. It's trying to fool the bot.
If however you are trying to help the user, it makes sense, but the way the question sounds, it is unlikely.
Think from a Search Engine's Perspective. Would you like your bot be fooled/manipulated ? The bots get smarter day by day and this form of cloaking is very old and is definitely track-able. Therefore I would suggest you not to do this.
-
What do you mean exactly by "Both versions of the page"?
And what is the outcome you hope to get from this?
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
-
What's the best way to deal with deleted .php files showing as 404s in WMT?
Disclaimer: I am not a developer During a recent site migration I have seen a bit of an increase in WMT of 404 errors on pages ending .php. Click on the link in WMT and it just shows as File Not Found - no 404 page. There are about 20 in total showing in webmaster tools and I want to advise the IT department what to do. What is the best way to deal with this for on-page best practice? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Blaze-Communication0 -
User profile page optimisation - tips required
Hello, we have developed a network of medical professionals and our main goal on SEO is to rank on user names. I would like to use a profile [h**p://goo.gl/bUwFWW] i build in corporation with my client as sample and request any tips to increase ranking position of users profile page while searching for his name. Right now we list on 2nd page of google page. I would to know any specific tips / advices i miss out on page optimisation. Thanks in advance, C
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | HaCos0 -
What's the best way to redirect categories & paginated pages on a blog?
I'm currently re-doing my blog and have a few categories that I'm getting rid of for housecleaning purposes and crawl efficiency. Each of these categories has many pages (some have hundreds). The new blog will also not have new relevant categories to redirect them to (1 or 2 may work). So what is the best place to properly redirect these pages to? And how do I handle the paginated URLs? The only logical place I can think of would be to redirect them to the homepage of the blog, but since there are so many pages, I don't know if that's the best idea. Does anybody have any thoughts?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | kking41200 -
How do I best optimise a page with 3 keywords that all contain 1 common word?
I am new to this so still getting to grips with a few things. I have a page here that I want to optimise for 3 keyword phrases. Towels, Egyptian Cotton Towels, Personalised Towels http://www.towelsrus.co.uk/towels/catlist_fnct561.htm SEOmoz reports a huge number of instances of the word towels overall. Title 3 URL 1 Meta Desc 5 H1 3 H2-4 1 Body 83 B / Strong 1 IMG ALT 11 Total Keyword Usage for this Page = 108How could i restructure meta tags and descriptions to still rank for these terms but reduce the level the word towels? Similarly as this is a category how can I reduce the term towels from other on page links?Also any extra advice regarding on page optimisation would be greatly appreciated to help our efforts
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Towelsrus0 -
To many on page links with ABC search
My client site http://www.tshirtsubway.com has a ABC quick find selector on the homepage of the site and throughout the site and as a result is is showing an error of to many links on the SEO moz error crawls reports. I wanted some advice on improving this and perhaps looking for an alternative also looking at the current setup and asking is this wrong.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | onlinemediadirect0 -
301 - should I redirect entire domain or page for page?
Hi, We recently enabled a 301 on our domain from our old website to our new website. On the advice of fellow mozzer's we copied the old site exactly to the new domain, then did the 301 so that the sites are identical. Question is, should we be doing the 301 as a whole domain redirect, i.e. www.oldsite.com is now > www.newsite.com, or individually setting each page, i.e. www.oldsite.com/page1 is now www.newsite.com/page1 etc for each page in our site? Remembering that both old and new sites (for now) are identical copies. Also we set the 301 about 5 days ago and have verified its working but haven't seen a single change in rank either from the old site or new - is this because Google hasn't likely re-indexed yet? Thanks, Anthony
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Grenadi0 -
We are changing ?page= dynamic url's to /page/ static urls. Will this hurt the progress we have made with the pages using dynamic addresses?
Question about changing url from dynamic to static to improve SEO but concern about hurting progress made so far.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | h3counsel0 -
Do search engines understand special/foreign characters?
We carry a few brands that have special foreign characters, e.g., Kühl, Lolë, but do search engines recognize special unicode characters? Obviously we would want to spend more energy optimizing keywords that potential customers can type with a keyboard, but is it worthwhile to throw in some encoded keywords and anchor text for people that copy-paste these words into a search? Do search engines typically equate special characters to their closest English equivalent, or are "Kuhl", "Kühl" and "Kühl" three entirely different terms?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TahoeMountain400