I keep seeing all the main SEO sites putting up posts about how Ajax is not search engine friendly. Which, for the most part is true. But not all the way true. There is a way to use Ajax, to make applications that are friendly to the search engine spiders. It’s all just a matter of how you write the javascript.

The problem with javascript / Ajax and search engine compatibility is not with the search engines, or even the use of javascript. The problem is in how the code is written. There is definitely a way to write spider friendly javascript. It’s called un-obtrusive javascript. Which basically means javascript that displays if the browser supports javascript, but also displays if javascript is not supported. Hence -> un-obtrusive.

There are many ways to do this besides using the common noscript tag. There is an example of such javascript on the webdev page of my other site. You can test it by going to the page, clicking around on the javascript accordion to see the javascript in action; then turn off javascript in your browser prefs, refresh the page and viola! all of the content still displays. This is the essence of un-obtrusive javascript.

You can do the exact same thing using Ajax, or XHR (Xml Http Requests) by referencing files on the server using links that don’t follow when javascript is enabled and putting the linked content on the page by appending it to the DOM (Document Object Model) with javascript. What you get then, is an Ajax application that works for the user with javascript capabilities, and for the search engine without javascript capabilities, it is simply a link to content. Ajax/javascript can be SEO and spider friendly, it’s just a matter of how it’s done!

I just watched a video that Michael Gray put up today on his blog about how to optimize your wordpress blog. The video was mostly informative and insightful. Being that I use wordpress, it definitely gave me some things to consider. Mostly he talked about making sure that googlebot won’t read duplicates of your posts by disallowing the robots from your archive files. This way, he says, you will have the engines only viewing your content in the main place that you put it. Which makes sense. Except that I have three contentions with this idea.

1. Everyone, everywhere else is saying to not worry about duplicate content. It is situations like these that are going to make duplicate content inevitable no matter what. Duplicate content is something that happens naturally, and googlebot knows that.

2. The whole idea behind archives and categories is to increase usability on a website. It is extremely useful to be able to sort or seach posts by date, category, author, etc.. It doesn’t make any sense that we should be worried that our site is extremely accessible, aren’t most of us battling to make other people’s sites more user friendly and navigable by both humans and spiders alike?

3. We should not have Google dictating this kind of stuff to us. We should be dictating how we want THEM to function. IMHO it’s one thing to optimize a site so that it is viewable to robots by using text and rich content, and to build links etc etc etc.. Nit-picky stuff like this should not be mandated because googlebot might get confused! Google has one of the biggest, best and most expensive devlopment teams in the world, they for sure can figure this out.

So, mostly I like what Graywolf has to say. I read his blog regularly, and am for what he is doing in the “greyhat” area of SEO. But stuff like this, brings up feelings like noted in #3 of above. Let’s all use good technique as we develop. But let’s also develop from the bottom up, and not worry about who’s sitting on top. –kenny

Today I read an article by search authority Danny Sullivan regarding, among other things, all of the recent buzz about Google spidering CSS files on webpages. Now, while there seems to be some validity to the issue concerning using css to cloak and hide duplicate content, I don’t see what the big deal is! At the SES conference in Chicago this past December, a number of search experts specifically addressed the issue of duplicate content and quite blatently said not to worry about it. So, why not just chill out? Furthermore, using css will only enable you to alter appearance or layout of content, NOT make it magically dissappear! So all the wannabe spammers are still gonna have to address the fact that Google will see their illegitimate tactics. So for the rest of us, lets all settle down. It’s not like it’s difficult to write valid css! –kenny

Well, I’m back from the search engine strategies conference in Chicago. I attended what was a four day conference and trade show. The information I learned was certainly not priceless! With the basic to mid-level training in SEO under my belt, I estimate my worth to have gone up about 15-20k per year on a salary basis. Nice for me The conference was a great opportunity for learning the official ‘white hat’ techniques for gaining organic listings in the major search engines, and strategies for development of search marketing in the areas of ppc, link building, and site optimization. I see search marketing to be a very niche, and very lucrative aspect of web development and design. I am excited to dive in full throttle as a search marketer, and even more excited to be able to add search marketing to my resume of services offered to clients. I was able to make some new contacts, from having attended the conference.. One of which was speaker Jim McFayden of Critical Mass. He spoke at the Flash & SEO session as well as the session regarding Ajax, css, and Web 2.0 & SEO session. He caught my attention as one of the few speakers who stood out as a technically inclined search marketer. This of course makes perfect sense seeing as he is a programmer / web developer himself. I was able to meet up with him later one evening for a couple of drinks where we had a great conversation regarding both of our positions as web developers both at a salary job, and on the side. His insight was much appreciated on my part as I was able to glean valuable knowledge from a seasoned search marketer and programmer. I hope the favor was returned as I was able to give a bit of insight to him as well on topics that he was maybe not so up to date. I was also very glad to be able to catch up with my colleague/partner in web development & SEO, Justin Walton of Position Technologies. I guess, catch up is not so much the term seeing as we speak on a daily basis.. But in person was a nice change from the ever so familiar instant message conversations that we carry on from one day to the next. We are both looking forward to some recent developments in our opportunities as partners in web-design and SEO. This conference was only a boost for the both of us. In summary, I was very glad to have had the opportunity to attend Search Engine Strategies Chicago ’06, and many thanks to Barry Langberg of Global Power Supply for having sent me as an in-house representative for GPS. Certainly Global will benefit from my learning as I am the sole web developer for the company. I look forward to the next conference! –kenny