Search Engine Journal

Do Search Engine Spiders Pick Up Url’s in a Javascript Menu?

This subject has been discussed before in length, but solutions have remained personal opinion. A thread over at Highrankings addresses some interesting issues regarding whether or not a search engine spider can extract links from a javascript menu. If the javascript is external, then it can not read past it, but what about a menu that is completely in the code? Will a [noscript] tag work well as a solution to a javascript menu? I have played around with the [noscript] tag when using a javascript menu, and as one member points out its may not be the most aesthetic solution in the serps. What you get is a long list of urls in the snippet instead of a description.

So what happens if you have 200 urls in a javascript menu. It would make it really cumbersome to include all 200 urls in a [noscript] tag. Some of the member discuss solutions to this. I can imagine if your site is structured correctly, or includes a site map, then you might be able to get away with only several urls in the [noscript] tag.

Additionally today, there is a great thread at Digitalpoint about a new Googlebot lurking around that is HTTP 1.1, and spidering many levels deep in a single pass. This is interesting because as one of the members points out this is a test of Google’s at spidering Javascript urls. So maybe there is better solution to a JS menu than a [noscript] tag and the search engines are finally able to do it all successfully. Check out and discuss the thread about Googlebot 2.1 and Javascript.

Guest Columnist Benjamin Pfeiffer is Associate Editor of Search Engine Roundtable & SEO Chat Forums Moderator.