Iframes and Google...Bad for SEO?

[foxtunes]

Hi,

I'm considering implementing an ad program on a site, but unlike google adsense, YPN etc the program uses an iframe to serve ads not javascript.

I've used javascript on sites for years with no adverse consequences in google, yahoo, or msn but never used iframes.

Anyone have any experience regarding this?

Thanks in advance.

[tedster]

The content of an iframe is served from a different url - so it should not affect ranking of your main page at all.

[Miamacs]

hmm... I only use iframes to display same domain pages. for that it works pretty well... both the main and the iframed page ranks. I assume tho that the ad program would be run from a different domain, right?

[foxtunes]

".....The content of an iframe is served from a different url - so it should not affect ranking of your main page at all....."

Thanks for the feedback Tedster.

".....I assume tho that the ad program would be run from a different domain, right? ..."

Thanks Miamacs. Yes that's right the iframe is run from the merchant's domain.

I was concerned because embedded in the code of the iframe is a link to search results with an affiliate id embedded inside. The iframe displays products and each image redirects to the merchant site. I just wondered if Googlebot would follow the link in the iframe and consider it an outbound link. The site is informational just monetised with adsense and it's had good ranking for years.

[Miamacs]

m-hm....

the content of the page within the iframe is indexed only for that URL, not the host of the frame. if you'll do a site: search for a phrase that only appears on the iframed URL, it'll show nothing for the page embedding it. ( in your case: nothing on your entire domain )

however.

embedding a URL in an iframe is almost like linking to that page...
make that... it's often reported in Google Webmaster Tools / Yahoo! SiteExplorer ( *checks the news* ) as a link.

meaning:

your pages with iframes to the affiliate domain will be - with a good chance - seen as 'linking' to the URLs that appear in the iframe.

...

from this point, it's your call.

whether linking to an affiliate domain is good or bad, I wouldn't know. lemme know your results within a few months time... *smirk*

[wilderness]

Could possibly affect the google line and size limits.

See this confusing thread:
[webmasterworld.com...]

[Miamacs]

uh... how...?

the content is not indexed for the page that's hosting the iframes, and it shouldn't be either since it's just ads... I don't see any problem there. the additional code is like a single line too.

Google takes note of the iframed URL as it would with a link, and will crawl, cache, index the iframed page separately if it really wants to, but that's up to the domain serving the ads. those pages might even be disallowed or noindexed... heh, that'd be a relief now wouldn't it?

...

I'd go over and check that now.

[wilderness]

uh... how...?

Athough the content of the external URL may not be considered!

The size of the initial URL (iframe) has a size which contains the data of the external URL.

[foxtunes]

"......your pages with iframes to the affiliate domain will be - with a good chance - seen as 'linking' to the URLs that appear in the iframe....."

Yeah that was my concern, the site's status changing from informational to affiliate in google's eyes and ranking being demoted. The iframe in question loads up great highly targeted content so my readers will definitely benefit more and that's who I should be concerned about.

I have seen a site ranking top 10 for a highly competitive single keyword using the same iframe code for months....But.....the site has 10s of thousands of backlinks and has been an authority since the late 90s. The site I'm involved with is only a few years old with hundreds of backlinks.

I'll test it on a couple of high traffic sub pages for a few weeks and keep it off most of the site as a test....If those two tank I'll know :)