Do search engines read Javascript stuff?

by 8 replies
10
Hello,

Anyone any idea how much (if at all) the search engines take notice of Javascript? I was just looking at some of the pages that are supposed to have backlinks to my site, and I noticed that one has my link in a Javascript file which is called from the main page. Another has the link inside a document.write() call in some Javascript.

In both of these cases, if the SEs ignore Javascript, then these links are useless to me. If they don't ignore Javascript, any idea how much they bother parsing the script?

Thanks
#search engine optimization #engines #javascript #read #search #stuff
  • My observation is that they ignore links in Javascript in most circumstances.

    Of course, human reviewers may notice them should your site be inspected in that manner. So, if you're doing anything "interesting", like hiding text or creating a gateway page, then it might be noticed.
    • [2] replies
    • I doubt they would give any credence to anything in the javascript
      code, as they are not really links, but are part of the text of the code.
      It would just be text, not links. Similar to many meta tags that have
      such things in them, and html like <!--- anything here is ignored by the
      browser and I doubt if it counts for anything.

      And on a side note, for what a javascript shows....

      The reason that links in javascripts don't show up is
      that the javascript code is seen, not what is generated.

      Two examples off the top of my head that everyone is
      familiar with, is banner exchanges and even google
      adsense. Load a page with google adsense then view
      the source code. What you see is the javascript code,
      not the links.

      Any script that changes what the browser shows, but not
      the html code, will show just the code, not what is generated.
      Hence, search engines will not see them as they only look at
      the code.

      That's why people who fuss over some rss feeds that are javascripts,
      thinking they are getting links, but in reality they are not.

      Before anybody screams, php is a different animal entirely.

      Paul
      • [1] reply
    • I was thinking more of the backlink packets that people sell. You are basically creating profile pages that include links to your site. Some of these sites have "links" that seem worthless as far as getting link juice. Judging by the two replies I've had so far, it seems I'm right

      Thanks
  • You are correct that the SEs could do something with Javascript. But they don't. There are a number of good reasons for this - one being that if the SEs actually ran the code it would open the door to a number of security concerns. I could, for example, inject malicious code.

    BTW - you really should not have the Javascript code on your page anyway. Good Web dev practices call for it in a separate .js file that you include in your header.
    • [1] reply
    • Yeah, I wondered about that too, but I figure that if the browser manufacturers can protect themselves, so can the SEs. Bear in mind they don't actually have to run the code, they only need to simulate running it to see what output is produced.

      However, as you say, it seems that they don't.

      Well, as I mentioned in my first post, I am not talking about my pages here, I'm talking about page on other people's sites that are supposed to have links back to my site, but do it in Javascript. I have no control over those pages, otherwise I'd have the links done as proper HTML ones!

      No disrespect, but you're definitely wrong there. Any SE can detect Javascript - that was never the question. The question was whether they would run the code.

      Javascript is (almost always) just plain text, so very easy for the SEs to read.

      That saves me the bother of trying it! I was going to add a couple of JS links to a page not indexed or linked anywhere else, and see if any SEs picked up on it. Sounds like you've already done that, so I won't bother

      I wouldn't rely on it at all, as it seems too grey-hat for my liking. Even if the spiders don't spot it, a human may, and that could be the end of your ratings.

      Again, my question here was about whether the back links I get from other people's sites were worth anything when they are written in by Javascript. Everyone seems to agree that they aren't, which is really all I wanted to know.

      Thanks to everyone for the replies.
  • I think google can't detect javascripts..
    • [1] reply
    • From the testing I have done on several of my websites, it does not appear that Javascript is read by search engines, like Yahoo or Google. But, I'm not sure if and when this will change in the future. I try not to rely on Javascript invisibility long-term.
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    Do search engines read Javascript stuff?

    Hello, Anyone any idea how much (if at all) the search engines take notice of Javascript? I was just looking at some of the pages that are supposed to have backlinks to my site, and I noticed that one has my link in a Javascript file which is called from the main page. Another has the link inside a document.write() call in some Javascript.