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  4. Can search engines find the text in a drop down menu? Is it better to have more links or a drop down menu?

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Can search engines find the text in a drop down menu? Is it better to have more links or a drop down menu?

On-Page Optimization
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  • SewFabulous
    SewFabulous last edited by May 31, 2011, 3:15 PM

    Can search engines find the text in a drop down menu?

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • WilliamBay
      WilliamBay last edited by Jun 1, 2011, 7:34 AM Jun 1, 2011, 7:34 AM

      Both Ryans are spot on. If you are not sure if it is a CSS coded menu or not, I would suggest posting the URL to your site so one of us can tell you.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • donthe
        donthe last edited by May 31, 2011, 5:08 PM May 31, 2011, 5:08 PM

        if you don't want search engines to see the links, for example if you are concerned about too many links on the page,  then put the links in a JavaScript file and block it with robots.txt

        Search engines can crawl regular javascript, whether they do or not, and how this will impact your site is not known.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • RyanKent
          RyanKent last edited by May 31, 2011, 4:46 PM May 31, 2011, 4:45 PM

          It truly depends on how it is coded.

          This isn't perfect but a pretty good idea is, go to your page, right-click and choose View Source. Can you see your menu list in the code? If you can, then Google can too. If you can't, then Google may or may not be able to see it, depending on how it is coded.

          If you can share a URL of your site or another site with the exact same menu system, I can offer more information.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
          • AdoptionHelp
            AdoptionHelp last edited by May 31, 2011, 4:23 PM May 31, 2011, 4:22 PM

            If your dropdown is powered by...

            • CSS: Yes, they can see it.

            • Javascrip:. Most likely yes.

            • Flash: Almost definitely not.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
            • AdamThompson
              AdamThompson @SewFabulous last edited by May 31, 2011, 3:34 PM May 31, 2011, 3:34 PM

              If it is coded correctly then search engines can and will read the links in the dropdown menu.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • SewFabulous
                SewFabulous @AdamThompson last edited by May 31, 2011, 3:32 PM May 31, 2011, 3:32 PM

                I'm not sure what a form select is.  I'm referring to the type of drop down menu that appears when you hover over the word/category title you're interested in.

                AdamThompson 1 Reply Last reply May 31, 2011, 3:34 PM Reply Quote 0
                • 94501
                  94501 @AdamThompson last edited by May 31, 2011, 3:26 PM May 31, 2011, 3:26 PM

                  Yes, thanks!

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • AdamThompson
                    AdamThompson last edited by May 31, 2011, 3:17 PM May 31, 2011, 3:17 PM

                    Are you referring to a mouseover menu, or a form select?

                    94501 SewFabulous 2 Replies Last reply May 31, 2011, 3:32 PM Reply Quote 0
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