Google and layers

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Google and layers

text within layers not being indexed?

philicious

11:59 pm on Jan 7, 2003 (gmt 0)

I am just reviewing a client's website that makes extensive use of layers. The entire site has been indexed and cached by google. I have tried searching for exact phrases that are found within content in layers, but Google is not finding the results.
Does this mean that google is not indexing layers anymore? Or perhaps the layers have been implemented in a poor way?

Your thoughts, please.

agerhart

1:11 am on Jan 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

I have not done any research into this lately, but I remember coming across a well ranking site in the past, and upon viewing the code it appeared they were using invisible layers to stuff keywords and <h1> tags, and this is why they were ranking well.

I also know that Google follows links within layers, so it may be that the layers are not setup properly.

NeedScripts

1:41 am on Jan 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

I have also noticed layers to be doing *pretty good* not only at Google, but also at Fast and AltaVista.

piskie

2:20 am on Jan 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

I have a site that I implemented css very heavily and all tables were eliminated wherever possible. This resulted in quite a few layers all visible and used mainly for absolute positioning.

I can find the text contained in these layers when I search on Google. This reasured me because at first I was crossing my fingers for a few updates until things settled.

Susanne

12:15 pm on Jan 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

Same here. I have a site made 100% in layers and haven't had any problems with it since launch one year ago. All layers are done with absolute positioning. Which tag is your client using? DIV?

4eyes

12:18 pm on Jan 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

Almost all my sites are built this way

No problems with SERPs on any engines

Nick_W

12:21 pm on Jan 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

There is no such thing as a layer ;)

a <div> tag is just a genereric tag for grouping related elements such as navigational and content sections. Google has no problem with this format whatsoever.

all google sees is <div>some content</div> - doesn't matter a jot how the author chooes to style that div.

...glad I got that off my chest ;)

Nick

amznVibe

12:49 pm on Jan 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

There is no such thing as a layer

Well you were teasing, but just to be accurate
netscape 4 had a bad attempt at iframes called
layers... I figure most here know that but just
in case someone stumbles across this without knowing.

Also z-index is sometimes considered a layer,
in theory, you could put the body of a page on
a higher z-index and the hidden words on a
lower z-index. Even netscape 4 does z-index.

But that *would* be a good question, would google
scan and cache something that is listed inside
of a <LAYER> tag? I figure it's smart enough on
<IFRAME> tags. -aV-

Jon_King

1:09 pm on Jan 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

I just checked... a site with layers text showing up in Google... it works.

chrisforeman2

1:14 pm on Jan 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

I use layers in almost all my sites and I rank top No1 for a client on Altavista for his main search phrase.

I ensure all the code for the layer which contains any main body text is placed just after the <body> tag no matter were the text actually apears on the page.

chris

amznVibe

1:19 pm on Jan 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

I use layers in almost all my sites

Ah then you are the perfect person to define what
*you* mean by "layers". Positioned div's?

chrisforeman2

3:47 pm on Jan 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

touche mon ami

(my attempt at french)

chris

philicious

8:08 pm on Jan 8, 2003 (gmt 0)

thanks for all your input. In this case, I was meaning multiple layers (about 6) with a different z-index. But they are all in the positive.

It might just be that the site has only recently been redesigned and thus recently indexed by Google which is having an effect.