Does location.href affect SEO?

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by 4on2y0, Jun 6, 2007.

  1. #1
    I'm using the javascript location.href= to reload a page after detecting screen resolution.

    It just struck me that this might not be the best idea, as I remember once having read something about search engines not being too keen on redirects etc. (The site may seem suspicious, à la porn, link farms, and other dodgy stuff that often redirects...Is that true?)

    I can't find any conclusive info online about this, but I'm hoping someone here might have some insights. To put it simply: will location.href= make me fall out of favour with Google? :)

    Thanx

    PS I really want to avoid a splash screen.
     
    4on2y0, Jun 6, 2007 IP
  2. thedamian

    thedamian Peon

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    #2
    I'm new to this (so take my advice with a grain of salt)
    But I'm pretty sure ALL search engine bots will ignore ALL javascript (not only location.href=)

    but one way to find out. If the cache version is your original landing page instead of the redirected one, then you know it never redirected and has cached your original landing page.

    is the "content" available without the redirect?
     
    thedamian, Jun 6, 2007 IP
  3. 4on2y0

    4on2y0 Peon

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    #3
    Thanks for your input.

    >is the "content" available without the redirect?

    Yes. If javascript is disabled, it loads normally - with the low screen resolution version of the site.

    >If the cache version is your original landing page instead of the redirected one, then you know it never redirected and has cached your original landing page.

    There's no problem with the reload. It works fine.
    (And it's obvious when the page reloads, as the php variables appear in the URL).

    >But I'm pretty sure ALL search engine bots will ignore ALL javascript (not only location.href=)

    Serach engine robots certainly ignore all javascript, but I'm wondering if there's some other method that search engines might use that would know that I'm reloading the page, and penalise me for it.
     
    4on2y0, Jun 6, 2007 IP