when not to use ajax for seo

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when not to use ajax for seo

ajax, seo

pood

4:36 am on Jan 24, 2008 (gmt 0)

I'm working on my new design for my site and I was thinking of using a ajax script that does what the following site does with flash. I will be using text, instead of images.
<snip>

From my understanding, ajax is alright for seo as long as it's not trying to pull data from another page on your's/someone's server.

[edited by: engine at 10:23 am (utc) on Jan. 24, 2008]
[edit reason] No urls, thanks. See TOS [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

pageoneresults

2:32 pm on Jan 24, 2008 (gmt 0)

Hello pood. When it comes to using Ajax, first thing I do is view source. If you can see it in the source code, the bot can index it (in most instances).

Ajax is great for applications and such. I surely wouldn't rely on it for primary content that needed to be indexed. Not unless of course that had been taken into consideration by the application developers.

Just like Flash. It's great for transitional effects within targeted areas of the design but, I would not suggest using a Flash based menu system unless of course there is an alternative for the bots to index.

I've not had the opportunity to work with Ajax on a full scale level but the bit that I have seen is impressive from a user standpoint. From an indexing standpoint, that all depends...

My rule of thumb?

If you can't see it while viewing the source of the page, the bots can't see it.

There are of course "exceptions to the rule" in every case. :)

pood

6:34 pm on Jan 24, 2008 (gmt 0)

good way of putting it. that's what i was thinking, as long as all the content is located in the current page's source code, then it is fine.