Google on search engines and Ajax

minstrel Illustrious Member

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A spider's view of Web 2.0
By Michael Wyszomierski, Google Webmaster Central Blog
Tue, Nov 6 2007
Many webmasters have discovered the advantages of using Ajax to improve the user experience on their sites, creating dynamic pages that act as powerful web applications. But, like Flash, Ajax can make a site difficult for search engines to index if the technology is not implemented carefully...

How will Google see my site?
One of the main issues with Ajax sites is that while Googlebot is great at following and understanding the structure of HTML links, it can have a difficult time finding its way around sites which use JavaScript for navigation. While we are working to better understand JavaScript, your best bet for creating a site that's crawlable by Google and other search engines is to provide HTML links to your content.

Design for accessibility
We encourage webmasters to create pages for users, not just search engines. When you're designing your Ajax site, think about the needs of your users, including those who may not be using a JavaScript-capable browser. There are plenty of such users on the web, including those using screen readers or mobile devices.

One of the easiest ways to test your site's accessibility to this type of user is to explore the site in your browser with JavaScript turned off, or by viewing it in a text-only browser such as Lynx. Viewing a site as text-only can also help you identify other content which may be hard for Googlebot to see, including images and Flash.

Develop with progressive enhancement
If you're starting from scratch, one good approach is to build your site's structure and navigation using only HTML. Then, once you have the site's pages, links, and content in place, you can spice up the appearance and interface with Ajax. Googlebot will be happy looking at the HTML, while users with modern browsers can enjoy your Ajax bonuses.

Of course you will likely have links requiring JavaScript for Ajax functionality, so here's a way to help Ajax and static links coexist: When creating your links, format them so they'll offer a static link as well as calling a JavaScript function. That way you'll have the Ajax functionality for JavaScript users, while non-JavaScript users can ignore the script and follow the link. For example:
<a href=â€ajax.htm?foo=32â€ onClick=â€navigate('ajax.html#foo=32'); return falseâ€>foo 32</a>
Code (markup):
Note that the static link's URL has a parameter (?foo=32) instead of a fragment (#foo=32), which is used by the Ajax code. This is important, as search engines understand URL parameters but often ignore fragments. Web developer Jeremy Keith labeled this technique as Hijax. Since you now offer static links, users and search engines can link to the exact content they want to share or reference.
Click to expand...
Note that for Ajax enabled forums, this does NOT mean that you need to wade into the code and provide alternate URLs for all your Ajax features. Indeed, to use vBulletin as an example, Ajax is used for features like fast on-page editing, which doesn't involve links that seqarch engine spiders need to follow anyway.

I'd also add that there may be an implication above that Google wants you to convert all your dynamic links into static links, so let's lay that myth to rest once more. Note that the URL worrying the Google employee above is an Ajax structured "fragment", not a dynamic PHP-type URL:

search engines understand URL parameters but often ignore fragments
Click to expand...

minstrel, Nov 24, 2007 IP

kijakarn Peon

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I love that name hijax ..
BTW ,Thanks for stories , just need to fix all fragment links.

kijakarn, Nov 24, 2007 IP

alex_d1 Well-Known Member

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#3

Thanks for posting this.

I have started dabbling in using Ajax for some of my sites, but I think for now, I will keep the link structure in simply HTML to help the Googlebot better spider my sites.

Alex

alex_d1, Nov 24, 2007 IP

linkmanager Well-Known Member

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kijakarn said: ↑

I love that name hijax ..
BTW ,Thanks for stories , just need to fix all fragment links.
Click to expand...

IMO it is Polish name

linkmanager, Nov 24, 2007 IP

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Google on search engines and Ajax

minstrel Illustrious Member

kijakarn Peon

alex_d1 Well-Known Member

linkmanager Well-Known Member

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