CSS Hiding Text - Does this matter to search engine crawlers
-
Hello,
I'm working on a site and a developer is using CSS to mask crawlable links below. Then, java, advanced search links go on top of this. So, if you disable Java, but have CSS enabled, you don't have a lefthand nav. With both CSS and Java disabled you have a fully crawlable website.
Is this a red flag? I understand a user without java would have a problem since most people don't disable CSS. But, is this a problem for search crawlers?
Thanks!
-
Google can index and render both CSS and JavaScript, and has an uncanny ability to sort out bad intentions, so if you're trying to mask links with these, Google will (eventually) figure it out. Your developer's assumption is wrong. Google has come a long with with this, and can even index some AJAX content (when JavaScript loads additional content to a page from the server).
Lots of navigation use accordions and other widgets that will display or hide navigation links depending on the page state. That's fine. Just don't go out of your way to hide links.
-
Thanks for taking the time to reply. This is what I thought..,.so you're saying that Google can access/activate the CSS files? I think our developer assumes that Google doesn't activate the styles, so the links underneath would be fine. Thanks!
-
It is, you must serve the same content to user then you do to bots.
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
-
Sitelink search in google search for Brand name redirect me to 404, how?
Hi All, When I search my brand name in google and in google search result my site appears with sitelink and in site link there is option of search when I search any keyword in that search then that search redirect me to 404 page of my site. I found I have implemented wrong schema at category page for search action and then I fixed the bug but 5 days passed away still google showing 404 of my search action. I have not implemented schema for search action at homepage. Now please let me know what is the issue?
Technical SEO | | amu1230 -
Google Search Results Display URL
Our urls show as www.domain.com/getproduct.aspx?productid=48376 (url #1) in Google search results. When you click on the link and go to the site the URL is www.domain.com/product-name.aspx (url #2) I checked in Google Webmaster Tools (Fetch as Google) and there is a 302 redirect from url #1 to url #2. It also shows a Set-Cookie value, ASP.NET_SessionID= If we make it a 301 redirect instead, will the url displayed in Google search results be the url #2? We need to get rid of the Set-Cookie for crawlers correct?
Technical SEO | | Guy_Huyett0 -
Javascript/CSS popup description box
Hi guys, I am trying to upload the following popup code on my server: http://jsfiddle.net/3wyHJ/ However, I cannot seem to upload the Javascript code on the right place, because the popup is not showing. Here is an example with what I am doing: _ Cookies?_ # of Votes: 123
Technical SEO | | petbiv
% Liked
_ [See User reviews](product review link)_ Could somebody help me?0 -
:8088 showing up on end of URL in natural Google search results
Hello All, Wondering if anyone has seen this before and might know what it is and how to get rid of it. As you can see on the attached image, when we search one of our popular keywords on google.com.au (doesn't happen on google.com btw) it has the following added on to the URL :8088 The link works fine, but it looks like an error message to anyone searching for us. The text for the listing comes from the home page meta info in the back-end of our site (Magento) but there isn't anything that looks out of place? Any ideas appreciated! Brian@CostumeBox.com.au 8088.JPG
Technical SEO | | costumebox0 -
Do different hosting IP addresses really matter?
Hi all It used to be (allegedly) the case that you should have all your sites on different Class Cs or Google would hit you with the spam hammer. Which I guess made some sense because back then they probably didn't have many other ways of detecting unnatural link networks. But today with all their data on who is related to who, can this really matter any more? I'd like to move 3 or 4 of our sites (all long-established with widely varied link sources) onto one server, one CMS install, one less headache but I wanted to check first in case I'm about to shoot myself in the foot. Thanks Roger
Technical SEO | | RogerElliott0 -
Should i include this group of text to improve ranking
Hi i am worried about my site www.in2town.co.uk because it it a magazine site i am finding it hard to find space to put text to describe the site for the search engines. I have put text near the top of the site which is under the logo and then i have put more text under the first set of headline where i have put a twitter sign and text but it does not look that great. I rank five in google for the word lifestyle magazine and feel i could do much better and i need to rank for other words but because my site is a magazine site, i am struggling. can anyone offer me advice and let me know if the text looks rubbish please.
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Explain this search result
Hi folks, I came across a strange search result. Search on Google Australia for "income portfolio". http://www.google.com.au/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=income+portfolio See the first result? It's a login page. How is that search result showing? And in position #1! Where is it getting its title and descriptions tags from? Does Google have a way to somehow see what is behind the login? Appreciate your thought.
Technical SEO | | scotennis0 -
Site Disappeared off of Search
A friend of mine has a site (http://bit.ly/q4iWkM ) that was ranking number one for their key word (Drimnagh() and has now completely disappeared off of the ranking. I did some checking and can't see a problem. She does have duplicate meta and titles throughout but this shouldn't be a punishable offence that I know of and is something that I am going to correct with a quick plugin install. I couldn't see any redirects or code stopping search either. When you do site:URL it shows up OK as well. She is client of mine (for website not for SEO) and she is really upset about it so any help from the forum would be appreciated. This isn't even a site I did but you couldn't get a better person to work with so I am eager to help where and if possible. Guinness all round if someone solves it next time you are in Ireland
Technical SEO | | kdaly1000