Apr 20 2007
Website Marketing Tips #11 – CSS and Javascript
CSS and Javascript are terrific web building tools when used correctly. However, they can cause problems with search engines spider bots.
The first and foremost issue is that CSS and Javascript information should be placed is a separate file. I have two reasons for this. The first is to clean up the web page and the second is to make it easier for the search engine spider to index a web page.
When CSS is found imbedded in a web page – it makes the header much longer and more involved. The quicker the spider can get through your web page without interference or complexity, the better. Also You do not want to focus on CSS, but the actual text on the web page. The search engine spider is looking for content, not code (although the CSS code and comments will be indexed if found in the web page).
The same is true with Javacsript. The spider has to dig it's way through the code. Now here is the kicker, if the code is written is a way that appears confusing to the search engine spider bot, the bot will stop reading the file and move on. I have seen this so many times with Javascript menu systems. This is a disaster, because the menu links are not indexed – they never find the rest of the website. So the only page that gets indexed or should I say that only a portion of the main web page will be indexed. All the rest of the website is lost and not submitted to the search engine.
If you have a Javascript menu – test it with a search engine simulation to see if the hyperlinks are being followed.
Good luck!
-=Smitty=-
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