Ethical use of the Noscript tag

Discussion in 'JavaScript' started by Epica, Mar 23, 2005.

  1. #1
    Since the content within a noscript tag is read by search engines, but not viewed by the majority of browsing users, what is the ethical use of the noscript tag.

    A noscript tage COULD be used to house unrelated outbound links (sample see links at bottom) but since the general user never sees that isn't this unethical...?

    It could be used to house whole pages of keyword spamming, or traffic promoting content unrelated to the pages visable content. (no sample)

    is using the noscript tag to replace Iframe content/links ethical...?

    what about placing related contentfrom the actual page into noscripts...would THAT be ethical..? (IE title, keywords, key phrases, page overview or description.)

    I ask because I have a few pages that have noscripts, and may need to be changed to fit the most ethical practices. The sample above is my site - this is an OBVIOUS abuse of the tag and will be changed by the evening, but several other sites use IFrames and require a noscript for proper navigation etc.
     
    Epica, Mar 23, 2005 IP
  2. mikmik

    mikmik Guest

    Messages:
    356
    Likes Received:
    29
    Best Answers:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    #2
    Uh, if you are using the noscript tag in any other way than what is intended, that is improper, and your visitors that don't have javascript enebled, and there more than a few - 8% or something - will be confused.

    If you use it to try getting better ranking, I would think that is unethical, and if someone reports you, you will get dropped from the SE index.

    However, Google is definitely going after hidden and disply:none text using CSS, so I can't see why they wouldn't look for that in noscript tags.

    For navigation in Iframes, I can't see that being a problem whatsoever, But don't forget that your iframe pages might be indexed as their own (seperate) pages. :)

    Now, this one
    I think you might run the risk of duplicate content? That is a good question, however!

    Has your site been indexed?

    I hope this rambling reply helps ;)
     
    mikmik, Apr 21, 2005 IP