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!
-
I would set up a test first, as i have not used it myself. It may not work on all browsers.
good luck
-
Alan -
Wow, great response. I really appreciate your help. The ASP solution does look sophisticated; I think I will look into that as a longer term solution/more sustainable solution.
Cheers!
Jeff
-
There is a way to do this but you need to be using ASP.Net and is a fair bit of work http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc488548.aspx
These 2 solutions do not remove from addres bar in IE, but do remove from history
history.go(-1);
window.location.href = 'http://thatsit.com.au'
window.location.replace('fakePage.html')
-
There is a way of replacing your page in history, but this does not remove it from the address bar drop down, I think this was a way for old browsers. I am not sure if it is clocking either.
window.location.replace('fakePage.html')
There is a way to check if the user is uing private browsing, but its not easy, you need to check the color of a visisted link. But by this time they have already landed on your page.
I have to say i dont know a way around, if i think of somthing I will get back
-
does it? OK I didnt think it would.
There is a way of making sure you do not appear in the history but i cant remember how it was done.
give me a moment and illl try and find an old website where i did somthingh like this.
-
Alan, thank you. Changing the title does refresh how the entry appears in the browser history. The cloaking issue is what I am worried about - you believe Google will see this and penalize?
-
Ryan, thank you so much for your thorough answer. I appreciate the help!
-
Thank you, Rand. I'll be emailing you shortly.
-
jkonowitch - if you want to email me privately with more detail, I'd be happy to help and leverage any contacts I can as well (if necessary). Broadly speaking, I might suggest that a javascript title change may be less valuable than helping visitors understand how to more fully remove obvious signs in their browser/on their computer.
-
Security and Accessibility are always at odds. The easier information is to access, the less secure it is and vice versa.
You can place your site behind a login which would require all users to register. Google will then have a lot less information about your site and any visitor activity. The problem will then be your pages will no longer be listed in Google's index.
Any additional security really needs to come from the end of the person surfing your site. They could visit your site through a proxy server, clear cache, clear cookies, etc. You can help users by educating them on these steps. There are numerous counter-balances as well. If you are attempting to improve user security, the above can help but it is far from perfect. A pc can have tracking software installed, a router can trace activity, etc.
-
How is that going to cover their tracks? the origianl title will show in any history. and you can simply use in private browsing to hide where you have visited if that is your aim. Gogole may not notice but if and when they do you will be done for cloaking.
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
-
Does Google ignore content styled with 'display:none'?
Do you know if an H1 within a div that has a 'display: none' style applied will still be crawled and evaluated by Google? We have that situation on this page on line 136: view-source:https://www.junk-king.com/services/items-we-take/foreclosure-cleanouts Of course we also have an H1 up at the top of the page and are concerned that the second one will cause interference with our SEO efforts. I've seen conflicting and inconclusive information on line - not sure. Thanks for any help.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rastellop0 -
Title Tags in Sitecore are the same as navigation. How do I add keyword phrases without effecting my website's navigation?
I am working on overhauling the on-page SEO for ecommerce website on Sitecore. I've done all my research and I am ready to plug the Title tags and descriptions in. So, if the page on Navigation is 'SHOP' this is in the Title tag box. How do I add my 70 characters of keywords? Thanks. JOE
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | iJoe0 -
What can cause for a service page to rank in Google's Answer Box?
Hello Everyone, Have recently seen a Google result for "vps hosting" showing service page details in Answer Box. I would really like to know, what can cause a service page to appear in the Answer Box? Have attached a screenshot of result page. CaRiWtQUcAALn9n.png CaRiWtQUcAALn9n.png
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | eukmark0 -
Javascript to fetch page title for every webpage, is it good?
We have a zend framework that is complex to program if you ask me, and since we have 20k+ pages that we need to get proper titles to and meta descriptions, i need to ask if we use Javascript to handle page titles (basically the previously programming team had NOT set page titles at all) and i need to get proper page titles from a h1 tag within the page. current course of action which we can easily implement is fetch page title from that h1 tag being used throughout all pages with the help of javascript, But this does makes it difficult for engines to actually read what's the page title? since its being fetched with javascript code that we have put in, though i had doubts, is anyone one of you have simiilar situation before? if yes i need some help! Update: I tried the JavaScript way and here is what it looks like http://islamicencyclopedia.org/public/index/hadith/id/1/book_id/106 i know the fact that google won't read JavaScript like the way we have done with the website, But i need help on "How we can work around this issue" Knowing we don't have other options.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SmartStartMediacom0 -
Will Using Attributes For Landing Pages In Magento Dilute Page Rank?
Hello Mozzers! We have an ecommerce site built on Magento. We would like to use attribute filters in our layered navigation for landing page purposes. Each page will have a unique URL, Meta Title and Meta Description. For example: URL: domain.com/art/abstract (category is Art, attribute is Abstract) Title: Abstract Art For Sale Meta: Blah Blah Blah Currently these attribute pages are not being indexed by google as they are set in google parameters. We would like to edit google parameters to start indexing some of the attribute filters that users search for, so they can be used as landing pages. Does anyone have experience with this? Is this a good idea? What are the consequences? Will this dilute Page Rank? Could this destroy the world? Cheers! MozAddict
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MozAddict0 -
Don't affiliate programs have an unfair impact on a company's ability to compete with bigger businesses?
So many coupon sites and other websites these days will only link to your website if you have a relationship with Commission Junction or one of the other large affiliate networks. It seems to me that links on these sites are really unfair as they allow businesses with deep pockets to acquire links unequitably. To me it seems like these are "paid links", as the average website cannot afford the cost of running an affiliate program. Even worse, the only reason why these businesses are earning a link is because they have an affiliate program; that to me should violate some sort of Google rule about types and values of links. The existence of an affiliate program as the only reason for earning a link is preposterous. It's just as bad as paid link directories that have no editorial standards. I realize the affiliate links are wrapped in CJ's code, so that mush diminish the value of the link, but there is still tons of good value in having the brand linked to from these high authority sites.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | williamelward0 -
What is a "Bad Link" in Google's eyes? Low DA?
Hi there, I'm going through my link profile and I noticed I have a few links that are from <10 DA sites. One has a DA of 6. Should I remove these? Aside from any referral traffic I receive from these links (I know there is none), are these links hurting me?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Travis-W
What should I look out for in a site I may guest post on? Thanks!
Travis0 -
Page Titles... question about which is better
Hi, I'm kind of a newbie and I'm working on an e commerce website. I would love to be able to optimize the site so that the keyword "dog boutique" was ranking for the homepage. B/C a lot of the pages call from php to create the meta data, most of generated page titles look like "Product Name, Category - Moondoggie Dog Boutique" My question is would it be more helpful to just have Moondoggie Dog Boutique on the page title on the page I would like to rank for "dog boutique" and use Moondoggie Inc. or Just Moondoggie in it's place on all of the other pages? Would this help or make it worse? Thanks! KristyO If you would like to see hte site: http://www.moondoggieinc.com
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | KristyO0