Framed pages

[DavT]

Supposing a site in frames, top, left, and main. The top and left frames are narrow, only a small portion of the actual page is visible to the browser. Also supposing that the non-visible part of the framed pages is full of content.

Can search engine robots tell whether the content in framed pages is actually visible in a browser?

[(jj)]

One of the main problems with frames as far as search engines go, is that for your frameset to function the page which starts your site (whether it be called index.html - home.html - or whatever) has to contain only the frameset commands.

So, the first page that a search engine robot sees, contains no content at all, other than the frameset structure.

Also, not every search engine robot looks at your site in the same way. If they did, then a person could figure out a way to "direct" the robots to where the content actually exists.

Remember, robots are looking for content and they look at the first 20 to 25% of the page and if nothing is found, they move on.

Just my "For What It's Worth"

P.S. If you haven't already read the "Sticky" post at the top of this forum, I'd suggest that you at least read Rainbore's informative post about search engines.

[rainbore]

Actually, DavT presents an interesting idea in terms of the intelligence of a search engine robot. Making a frame particularly small so that the content is invisible is not something I would expect search engines to spot. Its not clear to me which, if any of them, follow the frame's HREF anyway, so it would seem likely that they would pay even less attention to the physical dimensions of any frame. Its not as blatantly obvious as using a teensy font size or matching the font and background colors to mask text.

But in my opinion, the best way to insert invisible search engine fodder in a frameset is to be really sneaky and do it legally. Just put it in the <NOFRAMES> section where the search engines tell you to put content for them to digest. Except for people using cell phones, PDA's or other device to access your site, no human is ever going to see this content because every browser since around 1996 has been compatible with frames and unless a user happens to do a "view source" I don't think there's any browser's preference available to select to see the <noframes> section of framed pages. But search engines beg you to put real content there, including links to the individual pages. Of course, you're still subject to a search engine's rules about keyword stuffing, so you need to be judicious about using this.

Good luck!

[DavT]

I don't mean making the frames unusually small. The top and left frames are normally sized and the visible parts of the pages in them contain useful content for the viewer. Only, beneath the visible content, in the case of the top frame, is a whole bunch of text for the robot.

[(jj)]

Any "trick" is always worth trying, and it may work if you have that frame set for "no scrolling" and then add your text in by using a <div> at the top of the page, with an absolute position set for down below the "visible" area.

By using the <div>, the robot would see the text as being at the top of your page, which is what you want a robot to see.

But I have to agree with rainbore, in that it's most likely the best to just do it using the <noframes> section.



Just my "For What It's Worth"