Does Google Not Like Java Menus?

Google doesn't seem to be picking up my deep links

[makes a little sense]

I have a Java menu with links to articles I've written, but they just aren't appearing on Google, even when I use my own keyword.

I was wondering if I should be adding html links on my main page to the deeper links so Google won't have problems finding them?

[Nikke]

Even though Google (and other SEs) are known to actually pick up the URLs embedded in Java Script, it isn't very effective. For example, I'm not really sure the bot's can figure out the linked keyword in a Java Script.

I think you should definitely double up with real bonafide text links on your site.

[ann]

I do both plus have an html sitemap on board. I don't trust anything to chance when it comes to bots.

:)

Ann

[kaled]

Search engines require your site to be navigable without javascript.

NOTE
Java and javascript may be similar languages but they use entirely different technologies and should not be confused.

Kaled.

[dragonthoughts]

Java is a complied language.

It is unlikely that any robot - even google's - can meaningfully work out destinations from any compiled Java program.

To work out URLs from the Java, It would be necessary for the robot to execute every Java applet or application, on every site, just in case it lead to some URL's and the robot would need to simulate all sorts of keyboard and mouse activities.

This is the same reason that search engines don't find link in FLash presentation and other similar compiled technologies.

Real HTML links are easy to parse, follow and understand.

Many client side scripted links are almost impossible parse for, but doing so would be trivial compared to running all the ActiveX, Flash, Java and other compiled technologies.

[Wizard]

It's best to assume Google will not follow neither Java nor JavaScript navigation, even if some exceptions might occur.

You must have plain HTML navigation.

There's another thing. Navigation is often in the top of a page, and if a page uses plain HTML navigation on top, Google sometimes picks up the navigation as snippet. So it's quite good solution to use JavaScript/Applet/Flash navigation on top of the page, as it will not be picked, and plain HTML navigation in footer, available for crawlers.

It's a good practice to ensure both navigations are identical, so noone could accuse you of cloaking/spamming and apply a penalty :)

[vincevincevince]

If you are using a hidden-div method of menu creation it will work (i.e. if you read the page source you see elements such as <a href="link.html">Something</a> within your menu).

If you can't see them in plain HTML then you may as well forget them. Try browsing the site with lynx, that will normally show menu links, if they work :D