JavaScript and Search Engines
JavaScript alone isn’t necessarily good or bad for SEO, as the search engines pretty much ignore it but at the same time it can help to make a website more pleasant to visit. The basic thing you need to remember is that the search engine spiders don’t crawl JavaScript. So at least you should avoid using it as the only location for your keywords.
Navigational links and content offered via JavaScript are ignored too. This can impact your SEO because your links and content are top level factors for ranking and trustworthiness. Make sure you have normal HTML navigational links on the page and remove navigation from JavaScript so you don’t inadvertently lock search engines out of important areas of your site.
Another important SEO consideration is that JavaScript tends to slow down page loading time, which might have an impact on your rankings. An issue that Google has with JavaScript is that it tends to assume that the site is serving up different content and navigation to the user than to the search engines. This is a tactic commonly used by adult and gambling sites, so it’s not always great for a site’s reputation.
Using JavaScript
Search engines are getting better at reading JavaScript, but you should never substitute it for regular link navigation. It’s certainly fine to use JavaScript, but the trick is in finding the right balance – between solid SEO practices such as well-written content and keyword rich meta titles, H1 tags, strong back links, etc. and fun extras that come in the form of JavaScript and other components of Web page design. While Web crawlers can’t see images or videos, you could try using alt tags to describe them.There are some sites that are naturals for using JavaScript well; for example, e-commerce sites that require lots of images, but static content has the greatest chance of being indexed by search engines.
A quick Recap:-
JavaScript Does
• Attracts attention
• Makes a site less boring and vanilla
• Adds pop-ups, images and animations
• Takes you to another page for further info
• Enables web developers to manage/ maintain website
What JavaScript Doesn’t
• Help rankings in search engines
• Get picked up by Web crawlers
Contributed by:
Archana Bhat Mantoo
Internet Marketing Manager