View Full Version : 'Forced Frames' seen as 'Redirect'?
Cayce
07-19-2005, 05:58 AM
Hello, (again) Forum;
[ Maybe if I reword this... ]
I'm optimizing a framed site and have inserted a JavaScript forcing sub pages to open in a frameset. Any loose page responding to a search gets redirected to the framed Index page of the site. My concern is that SEs might interpret this as a black-hat sort of redirect or a doorway page. I can apply a different script that opens the responding page in it's own frameset but it's a little awkward to have a visitior come into the site through one of the sub pages. For instance, if a search keys into the Site Directory page of the client's site and I want it to open in a frameset, am I better off (safer) showing the frameset of that Site Directory page or can I have the Index come up without raising any red flags?
Thanks for your experience & help.
Cayce
littleman
07-19-2005, 06:50 PM
I have seen sites in the serps doing this exact technique without suffering a penalty. Yet it is possible for your code to be interpreted (misinterpreted) as a way of pulling the old bait and switch.
What would I do as a paranoid SEO? Cloak the redirect so that it only appears on the pages that humans see. My second choice would be to obscure the js code.
Chris Boggs
07-19-2005, 06:51 PM
I'm optimizing a framed site
not really possible to optimize a framed site ethically.
littleman
07-19-2005, 07:56 PM
>>Chris Boggs]not really possible to optimize a framed site ethically.
Ethics aside, that's not really true. It is like saying a three legged dog can't run.
You can:
work the <HEAD></HEAD>
build the <noframes>
make the frames crawlable as individual pages and optimize them
Chris Boggs
07-19-2005, 08:46 PM
that seems like more work to do when you could simply rebuild the site from the ground up without frames, no? Remember that I (and others that will eventually read this I'm sure) am not a developer, so I base my question and knowledge from what I have learned from developers that feel that way. I would love to know if this method you suggest, littleman, is as time efficient and can lead to as good eventual results based on content as simply rebuilding without frames would do.
littleman
07-19-2005, 09:39 PM
No, the results will not generally be as good as a non-frames site. Yet, it is still worth doing if rebuilding a site isn't feasible. These type of mods aren't hugely time consuming, and tweaking a frame site can bring it from invisible to at least indexed and showing up in the results.
Cayce
07-20-2005, 12:25 PM
Thanks for all the responses. I'll have to digest all this and decide where to go with it. I know a framed site can be optimized to an extent and that non-framed sites are more attractive to search engines. But rebuilding these three somewhat large sites would be an undertaking I'm not sure the client would be willing to cover.
Decisions, decisions...
Thanks again.
Cayce
Actually I have to interject
I have done this - using a JS to force the frames, and optimize the subframe page - I had to do it with an Iframe site, but I'd imagine it worked the same for regular frameset site.
Essentially you optimize the content page, and have the javascript force load the frame. It works just fine, and the site I did it on wasn't penalized.
Chris Boggs
07-21-2005, 11:01 AM
I have done this - using a JS to force the frames, and optimize the subframe page - I had to do it with an Iframe site, but I'd imagine it worked the same for regular frameset site.
I have read that some search engines (Google) can read Iframes. Did you use the JavaScript method to "show content" to other SE's? What is your opinion on the amount of time it would take to redesign the site without frames as opposed to working this trick? What about if it's a 5 page site versus a 25= page site versus a 125+ page site?
In this case the client had close to 1000 pages and didn't want ot invest in a new site.
We've actually employed 2 different methods using JS for 2 different sites - the first was to force the page to load in the frame (Google was reading the content but since there was no navigation, they weren't able to effectively crawl the site).
The second method involved coding main navigation into the frame page that would display the nav if the page was loaded as itself, and hide the nav if it was loaded in a frame - this was a very effective tactic as well as the page appeared the same for the user whether it was loaded as a frame or not. It also allowed for better crawling as the spider would not execute the JS to load the page in the frame, but could still navigate through the site.