Is Googlebot seeing text in my 'Read More' bar and could they even be penalising me for it?
-
Hi guys.
Our web developers have put a read more bar that contains the on page SEO text for our webpage. By default, the read more bar is not expanded and you cannot see the text within. If you click 'Read More', the box expands and the text is shown on the page.
I was wondering if googlebot is seeing this text at all - it's really important that it does because it contains all the on-page SEO text. I also wondered if this type of approach is still considered 'white hat'? If it's not, could google be penalising us for it?
Thanks,
-
Thanks for your input Frederik.
I've used the website you mention and it look absolutely fine.
-
Thanks for the reply. It's not just keyword spam but correctly written content so I think it's all ok.
-
Good answer David.
-
Hi Carl
To answer your question I would need to have a look at the site. If the content hidden behind the read more button is in the HTML and then hidden until Read more is clicked its probably gonna get indexed. To be sure you can hide it in the CSS instead of in the HTML. If the text is added from inside the javascript and injected into the DOM its probably not going to get indexed.
You can also use this free tool to see the page as Google sees it:
http://www.seobrowser.com/ (Use the simple version its free)
Your second questions concerning if you would be penalised for it depends on just what is behind that Read more button? If its information that is valid to the user and a natural part of the site you should have no problem.
Hope this helps you on the way'
Have a great day
Fredrik
-
1. Can googlebot see the text?
Login in to Google Webmaster Tools, go to Health > Fetch as Google This will show you exactly what they can see.
2. Could you be penalised for it?
If it's just keyword spam, yes. Make sure the content isn't there just for bots, but is useful for visitors and you should be fine,
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
-
MOZ identifies duplicate titles - one has' www' in the title
MOZ has identified duplicate titles - one has' www' in the title. - we have a few pieces of content where the same thing is happening. Not sure how this has happened. Should we do something about this? Will it cause problems for ranking? | KETAMINE GUIDE FOR DRUG WORKERS - free | Harm reduction informationhttp://substance.org.uk/harm-reduction-information/ketamine-guide-for-drug-workers-free | 13 | 2 |
On-Page Optimization | | Substance-create
| KETAMINE GUIDE FOR DRUG WORKERS - free | Harm reduction informationhttp://www.substance.org.uk/harm-reduction-information/ketamine-guide-for-drug-workers-free | 13 | 4 | 1 - 2 of 20 -
Does Google's algo look at all traffic mediums with regs to onpage metrics or only organic traffic metrics?
Hi folks, This is something I've pondered for a while. I've ask a couple of Googlers but no reponse yet and I don't I'll get one! In your opinion, do you think Google looks at on page metrics like bounce rate for example from all traffic mediums (organic, paid, email, social referral etc etc) or they only look at on page metrics from organic traffic? I'm not talking about direct correlations from other mediums. I'm only talking about when a user lands on a website, do the actions they take matter with regards to Google's search algo no matter of the referring medium, or do Google only look at onpage metrics on visits which came to the site via organic search as a medium. Option 1 As a very simplified example: Google gives extra weight in the SERPs to website A which has an average bounce rate of 30% from all mediums compared to website B which has a bounce rate of 50% from all mediums. Option 2 Google gives extra weight in the SERPs to website A which has an average bounce rate of 30% from organic traffic only compared to website B which has a bounce rate of 50% from organic traffic only. I'm not sure if anyone outside Google has the answer/proof of this but was keen to get other people's thoughts. If you think the also uses one or the other, can you give an insights/proof of one or the other? For me it would make sense for them only to use onpage metrics from sessions which came from organic seach traffic, but who knows! Merci buckets, Gill.
On-Page Optimization | | Cannetastic0 -
Can't see the woods for the trees
Ok, I'm going be really cheeky here, so apologies in advance! We have this site www.simplychaise.co.uk and its not ranking anywhere in the top 50 for the term 'Chaise Longue' Moz has picked up a few issue with duplicate titles and a couple of 404's which I will fix shortly, It dosen't have any backlinks but I'm stumped as to why it isn't ranking higher than what it is, I'm not expecting 1st position but outside of the top 50 is something else. The site looks ok to me, but I think it might be a case of I've been looking at it so long that I can no longer see the wood for the trees. Could any kind hearted Mozer point me in the right direction here please, what am i missing? I'd greatly appreciate it, many thanks in advance for being so cheeky and well, useless! Jon
On-Page Optimization | | Jon-S0 -
Homepage SEO: Does Text Content Help Traffic?
Hi Mozzers! My employers homepage (www.swarovski.com) is - amongst other problems we're about to fix - very thin (not to say empty!) in text content. If we were to put relevant text on the next version of the page, would that be beneficial in terms of traffic to that page? Thanks and cheers, Chris
On-Page Optimization | | Diderino0 -
Can't find Text-Only Cached version in Google search
Hi, I'm trying to view the text-only of a webpage to run a SEO audit, however Google does not give me this option. When i click the two arrows that appear to the right of a search result, the only option I get is Cached. Is there a reason this might be happening? I've tried clearing my cookies, signing out of Google, and anything else I could find on my troll of the internet. I also tried text, only please! however whether this works or not is debatable considering it shows me actual pictures on the site. Any ideas, or maybe another add-on that will work?
On-Page Optimization | | JuiceBoxOM0 -
SEOmoz's On-page Checker upto date?
Helllo Mozzers, Just wondering if SEOmoz's on-page optimisation checker is upto date with google recent updates? If not... what do you suggest?
On-Page Optimization | | Prestige-SEO0 -
Does reading grade level affect rankings? What level should I write for?
Search engines measure the reading level of your page. But how does it affect ranking? Should I be aiming more for a low or high Flesch–Kincaid grade level?
On-Page Optimization | | stevenw0 -
Has anyone had experience with the Wix platform and it's SEO qualities?
Wix offers an inexpensive, user friendly platform for building websites. Most of the site is flash, but Wix claims to be SEO friendly. I'm all ears for your feedback and experience with Wix.
On-Page Optimization | | ksracer0
