Javascript Redirects
-
So I have a client who uses a program called test and target by Adobe to test different pages of content for the best layout, design, etc. They use javascript redirects and css hide and show to hide content with div tags. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with test and target or knows about how these hidden div tags and javascript redirects will affect my indexing and SEO.
I'm hoping for some guidance fairly quickly as well
-
Great thoughts, thank you. I agree that companies really don't have SEO in mind when creating many tools. Some very useful tools are that way. There is a balance of options here - the benefit they see from using test and target (and they have seen great results improving userability on the site and refining their processes. It has created great efficiency that have led to improved site conversions), and the SEO factor.
I guess what I'm looking for is a few things: 1. What are the effects of using hidden div tags and javascript redirects. 2. Possible ways to mitigate any negative effects in my rankings of those pages.
From what I have read (and just the story of my SEO life) is that there really isn't much surety when it comes to this...no one seems to know exactly what will happen. I guess I'm looking for someone who has used hidden div tags or javascript redirects and how that has affected their ranking on those specific pages...as well as the site as a whole.
-
This is yet another case where a big company creates something they think will be useful to web designers, without fully comprehending the impact on others. Javascript and CSS are bot legitimate tools of web design and programming, however search bots and algorithms fail miserably at processing content that is manipulated by either method in a way that causes them to appear or disappear based on human interaction.
While Google has come a long way in being able to process Javascript, it's far from perfect. Hit and miss. And in the case of both Javascript and CSS, there's a very "maybe" situation indeed. Maybe their system will be able to parse it and not think it's there to fool the search engines. Maybe it won't. Maybe the result will be a devaluing of some or all of your content and links, maybe it won't.
They play this off in all their public statements, saying "if your intent is not to do evil, you should be fine." They tell you that if your intent is good, let their system figure it out.
Then they tell you they can't guarantee their system will figure it out properly. Or that their system won't penalize your site even if your intent is good.
Quite a while back, Matt Cutts specifically stated that he recommends never using any method that could hide content, regardless of your intent. That's what it really comes down to.
Until and unless you can truly test every possible scenario and can know with absolute certainty that what you're doing isn't causing SEO (or usability) problems, then it comes down to risk.
Is the client willing to risk having the site ranked lower than it might otherwise be? Are they willing to risk having usability problems? That's what it comes down to.
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
-
Redesign Just Starting - Should I Leave The Previous Incomplete Site or Setup A Temporary Holding Page and Redirect Previous URL'S?
Hi All I've picked up a new website project and wanted to ask about the best way to proceed with the current site during the development process. The current site is incomplete although it has been live for a while and has over 80 pages in the sitemap. Link to site https://tinyurl.com/ychwftup The business owner wants to take down the current site and simply add a landing page stating "new website coming soon". From an SEO perspective, am I better to keep the current site live until the new site is ready? Or would it not make any difference if I setup the landing page and add 301 redirects from each page in the sitemap to the landing page. Many Thanks In Advance For Any Assistance
Web Design | | ruislip180 -
Looking to remove SSL because it is causing very slow website download speeds. Does WP have a plugin that redirects SSL urls to non SSL urls?
After some extended debate with our web development team we are considering dropping the SSL from our website because it is adding almost 2 additional seconds to our download speeds. We know there is a SEO boost from having a SSL but we believe the extended download speeds maybe outweighing the benefit. However we are concerned about the SEO implications of having no method possible of redirect SSL to non SSL webpages. Does anybody know of a Wordpress Plugin that can force redirect SSL urls to non SSL urls?
Web Design | | RosemaryB0 -
Do I need to 301 redirect www.domain.com/index.html to www.domain.com/ ?
So, interestingly enough, the Moz crawler picked up my index.html file (homepage) and reported duplicate content, of course. But, Google hasn't seemed to index the www.domain.com/index.html version of my homepage, just the www.domain.com version. However, it looks like I do have links going specifically to www.domain.com/index.html and I want to make sure those are getting counted towards my overall domain strength. Is it necessary to 301 redirect in the scenario described above?
Web Design | | Small_Business_SEO0 -
Redirects Not Working / Issue with Duplicate Page Titles
Hi all We are being penalised on Webmaster Tools and Crawl Diagnostics for duplicate page titles and I'm not sure how to fix it.We recently switched from HTTP to HTTPS, but when we first switched over, we accidentally set a permanent redirect from HTTPS to HTTP for a week or so(!).We now have a permanent redirect going the other way, HTTP to HTTPS, and we also have canonical tags in place to redirect to HTTPS.Unfortunately, it seems that because of this short time with the permanent redirect the wrong way round, Google is confused as sees our http and https sites as duplicate content.Is there any way to get Google to recognise this new (correct) permanent redirect and completely forget the old (incorrect) one?Any ideas welcome!
Web Design | | HireSpace0 -
How do I move a 200+ website properly with 301 redirect?
I tried to search for the answer but didnt find any direct answers. I need to move a 200+ site to a wordpress site. How am I suppose to 301 redirect all of them? Do I need to create the new pages first then have webmaster use ssh and 301 the entire list? Can anyone link me to a 1,2,3 step instructions for a huge website move? Im sure there are other issues that I need to know about.
Web Design | | bryonstout0 -
301 redirect on Windows IIS. HELP! (Part 2)
My webmaster's trying (but struggling) to 301-redirect the non.www version of my site to the www version. He's following these instructions given to me in a response to an SEOMoz Private Question (ah, the good old days!). So far he's 301-redirected the homepage but seems stuck on how to do the entire site. Any clues on what he should be doing?
Web Design | | Jeepster0 -
Unable to set preferred domain, can I verify a site that's already redirected?
I'm in the process of trying to set a preferred domain in webmaster tools -- to set our www version as preferred vs. the non www. version. IT is already redirecting non-www to www, but I get this message when trying to change settings "Part of the process of setting a preferred domain is to verify that you own http://mnn.com/. Please verify http://mnn.com/." While we own the domain, I am not sure how we can have Google access a file at [http://mnn.com/some_file when we are forwarding all requests for non-www to our www site.
Web Design | | Aggie
Note: The apache rewrite predates me and I'm not sure how / why we have two domains set up, but I'm trying to fix the preferred domain now.Am I able to verify the non version once the redirect is in place.Any ideas??? Help???Thanks!Lisa0 -
Type of redirect?
I'm almost ready to launch a website redesign. We are going to move what's currently being hosted on olddomain.com to newdomain.com. We want to do this early to avoid error and to have olddomain.com redirect to newdomain.com until the new content is ready. Once the redesign is complete, we'll push the new content to olddomain.com (as it holds a higher SEO value) and take away the redirect. A. Does this sound like a good idea? B. What kind of redirect should I use? 302? 307? Thanks, and sorry for the confusion 🙂
Web Design | | kylesuss0