SEO-Friendly Method to Load XML Content onto Page

[KaneJamison]

I have a client who has about 100 portfolio entries, each with its own HTML page.

Those pages aren't getting indexed because of the way the main portfolio menu page works: It uses javascript to load the list of portfolio entries from an XML file along with metadata about each entry. Because it uses javascript, crawlers aren't seeing anything on the portfolio menu page.

Here's a sample of the javascript used, this is one of many more lines of code:

// load project xml
	try{
	var req = new Request({
             method: 'get',
             url: '/data/projects.xml',

Normally I'd have them just manually add entries to the portfolio menu page, but part of the metadata that's getting loaded is project characteristics that are used to filter which portfolio entries are shown on page, such as client type (government, education, industrial, residential, industrial, etc.) and project type (depending on type of service that was provided). It's similar to filtering you'd see on an e-commerce site.  This has to stay, so the page needs to remain dynamic.

I'm trying to summarize the alternate methods they could use to load that content onto the page instead of javascript (I assume that server side solutions are the only ones I'd want, unless there's another option I'm unaware of). I'm aware that PHP could probably load all of their portfolio entries in the XML file on the server side. I'd like to get some recommendations on other possible solutions. Please feel free to ask any clarifying questions.

Thanks!

[KaneJamison]

As a response to my own question, I received some other good suggestions to this issue via Twitter:

• @__jasonmulligan__ suggested XSLT
• @__KevinMSpence__ suggested "...easiest solution would be to use simplexml --it's a PHP parser for lightweight XML" & "Just keep in mind that simplexml loads the doc into memory, so there can be performance issues with large docs."
• Someone suggested creating a feed from the XML, but I don't think that adds a ton of benefit aside from another step, since you'd still need a way to pull that content on to the page.
• There were also a few suggestions for ways to convert the XML feed to another solution like JSON on the page, but those were really outside the scope of what we were looking to do.

Final recommendation to the client was to just add text links manually beneath all of the Javascript content, since they only were adding a few portfolio entries per year, and it would look good in the theme. A hack, perhaps, but much faster and cost-effective. Otherwise, would have recommended they go with PHP plus the simplexml recommendation from above.

[DougRoberts]

Think you need to find a developer who understand progressive enhancement so that the page degrades gracefully. You'll need to deliver the page using something server-side (php?) and then add the bells and whistles later.

I'm guessing the budget won't cover moving the entire site/content onto a database/cms platform.

How does the page look in Google Webmaster Tools - (Labs, Instant Preview). Might give you a nice visual way to explain the problem to the client.

[KaneJamison]

Site was done a year or two ago by a branding agency. To their credit, they produced clean and reasonably-well documented code, and they do excellent design work. However, they relied too heavily on Flash and javascript to load content throughout the site, and the site has suffered as a result.

Site is entirely HTML, CSS, & Javascript and uses Dreamweaver template files to produce the portfolio entry pages, which then propagate into the XML files, which then get loaded by the rest of the site.

I wouldn't call it AJAX - I think it loads all of the XML file and then uses the filters to display appropriate content, so there are no subsequent calls to the server for more data.

User interface is great, and makes it easy to filter and sort by relevant portfolio items. It's just not indexable.

[DougRoberts]

What's the reason it was implemented this way in the first place? Is the data being exported from another system in a particular way?

What's the site running on - is there a CMS platform?

Is it javascript because it's doing some funky ajax driven "experience" or are they just using javascript and the xml file to enable you to filter/sort based on different facets?

Final silly question - how's the visitor expected to interact with them?

[JoeWoods]

Try creating an XML sitemap with all the entries, spin that into an HTML sitemap version and also a portfolio page with a list of entries by type.  It's a bit of work, but will probably work best.

[KaneJamison]

Thanks Doug,

I forgot to mention it above, but I am definitely mentioning other workaround methods of getting the content indexed, specificallly:

• XML Sitemap
• Cross-linking - there's plenty of other opportunities to link throughout the site that haven't been done yet - so that's high on the list.
• Off-site deep link opportunities are also large and will be addressed.
• The projects aren't totally linear, so we can't use next/previous in this example, but that's a good idea as well.

Those aside, there is a fundamental issue with the way the data is working now and I want to address the ideal solution, since it's within the client's budget to have that content redesigned properly.

[DougRoberts]

While helpfully not answering the question, could you generate a xml sitemap (I take it the portfolio data is being generated from something?) to help Google find and index the pages?

Is there any cross linking between the individual portfolio pages or at least a next/previous?

(My first thought would have been the php route.)