Does interactivity on page hurt page rankings?

[jimchicago]

Hi,
I have been told that making my site's nav buttons and text links change when moused over (e.g., from one color to another, or from not-underlined to underlined, or both) can make it harder for SE spiders to scan my site and thus hurt my rankings for a given page. I find this hard to believe, given all the sites out there (including those of major corporations) whose buttons & links change when moused over.

Whether or not it's true, what about adding rollovers, scrolling marquees, video clips, and other animated or interactive elements? Are these going to "scare off" spiders even more? I hope not, because I love having these features on my site.

Thanks for your wisdom.

[Karen Mac]

Re: Does interactivity on page hurt page rankings?

Jim,

LOL interactivity. Thats a new phrase. Ok.. first off it doesnt SCARE the spiders off, and your dhtml mouseovers dont either unless they are in java script, because spiders cant read the java script. So.. you need to make text links so they can follow your pages and/or use a robots.txt file and sitemap file.

SE dont technically READ images, but they do READ the alt tags you assign to images. It is true they dont read flash and Iframes the way you want them to as well. So you have to optimize differently with links they can follow to index your pages.

If you want to view your site like a spider.. try this tool

http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/search-engine-simulator.shtml

Karen

[jimchicago]

Re: Does interactivity on page hurt page rankings?

Thanks, Karen. How do I know whether my nav buttons or text links are in javascript? I am using ONLY the tools provided in BlueVoda to create these buttons and links.

And what about rollovers, scrolling marquees, and video clips (Windows Media files at this point, not Flash)--do they also make the page hard to read?

[Karen Mac]

Re: Does interactivity on page hurt page rankings?

Jim,

Usually Rollovers are dhtml, or dynamic html, and they are usually fine, long as they arent embedded in java. Blue voda menus should be fine. Scrolling Marquees, depend again on the scripting.. video files arent read same as images or flash. You have to use some good keywords and labeling for your content.

Generally speaking, the less bells and whistles you have the better the SE like you.

With that said.. who are you designing for? Your audience or the SE? You should design first for your audience.. second for the SE. If its busy and loud, your audience wont like it much better than the SE do. If its an informative clip, informational image, if flash makes it more entertaining, if an inline frame clears up the clutter.. then thats what you do. There are ways and means to optimize for it all.

Karen