Javascript Redirect to country specific pages - is this cloaking?

[acac]

I am thinking of deploying a javascript to direct users to country specific pages when they access the home page.

The country specific pages are separate entities with unique content.

Will this violate Google's quality or other guidelines in any way?

I am concerned because Google's bot may not be able to get the re-directs even though the javascript will still be there as they are afaik deaf to JS.

[tedster]

In my experience, trying to "guess" the language/countrry preferences of a user has a lot of pitfalls.

The first thing you want is to make sure that each country version of a page has its own unique url.

The next thing is to have a normal html click path to the country-specific content. That's essential for googlebot to find it all. Googlebot IPs are assigned to the US and googlebot doesn't do content-negotiation.

Having a regular click path available is also good so you don't aggravate your visitors. No matter how you decide what a visitor "should" see, you won't always get it right. People travel, they borrow or buy other people's computers, do research for far away friends and relatives, and so on. Also some visitors will alwyas have javascript turned off.

And yes, there is some chance of this type of redirect being seen as cloaking by Google, and other search engines, too.

In short, even though technology allows for this kind of scripting, I've found it's not a good idea -- not for googlebot and not for visitors, either.

[pbaddock]

Tedster - would you say the same principle apply if you have 2 country specific sites : widgets.com (nth america focused) and widgets.co.uk (UK & EU focused) - and use JS to redirect people to the *website* (rather than page on one site) ?

We have a range of localisation features (phone number, address) on each - and expect this to contribute to increased conversions in each market. Interested in your thoughts.

[Robert Charlton]

The localisation features, hosting, and inbound links of the country-specific sites, and WMT preferences should eventually cause them to rank where they belong.

I would not use the JS to redirect. Google is seldom specific in its Webmaster Guidelines, but it's very specific here....

Sneaky JavaScript redirects [google.com]

it violates the webmaster guidelines to embed a link in JavaScript that redirects the user to a different page with the intent to show the user a different page than the search engine sees. When a redirect link is embedded in JavaScript, the search engine indexes the original page rather than following the link, whereas users are taken to the redirect target. Like cloaking, this practice is deceptive because it displays different content to users and to Googlebot, and can take a visitor somewhere other than where they intended to go.

PS: If need be, until the site versions rank as you'd like them to, link between the two versions of the site using flag icons and nofollowed links.

[edited by: Robert_Charlton at 11:54 pm (utc) on April 19, 2009]

[tedster]

I've worked with several large internationalized websites. Based on that experience, I'm convinced that it's best to let the visitor make their own country choice -- rather than trying to automate it. This also includes the case where each country version is on its own domain.

Google itself does do some redirects based on a combination of IP address and browser language in the header. That's two factors, not just one. But Google does not redirect by using javascript, and I don't feel good about client-side redirects either -- not even for the most technically sophisticated organization.

If you feel that you really want to wade into these waters, the most authoritative information I can offer is this 7.5 minute video from Google engineer, Maile Ohye. You may well discover issues that you have not considered.

[googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com...]

[tedster]

An added comment - having different domains with localized information is a very good thing, and Google can sort that out quite well. It sounds like you've done your homework in that area. The redirect is where I have reservations.

[pbaddock]

Thanks very much for that guys - yes, my content is localised - and so based on the feedback, sounds like its best to continue to pursue my organic strategy for each domain rather than trying to get too tricky. Once again - thanks very much.

[pbaddock]

Tedster - one more question. We now have the localised country domains, we recently implemented an GEO IP lookup on the visitor to then display a specific flag, we are implementing a local physical address in that country + phone number. In terms of just onsite factors, can you think of any other variables that would make a site more localised in a region? and localisation to increase conversion rates?

-thanks in advance (once again!)

[tedster]

Yes - the English language itself is richly varied by region of the world. I live in the northeast US, and every time I've visited the UK I've deepened my sensitivity to the differences.

You can notice these differences even on this forum. Our UK members write "What Google are doing" and our US members write "What Google is doing". UK websites talk about "delivery" and US websites talk about "shipping" -- thinking of the world "delivery" as something that local companies do in their own truck, such as pizza parlors. US speakers use the word "math", but for the UK it's "maths" - something you never hear the US.

So I'd find a native speaker in the areas you hope to serve and have them review the web copy for any regional "off notes" in usage as well as spelling.

[pbaddock]

thanks Tedster

[Meenakshi Mosaic]

Hi Tedster,

Thanks for sharing the URL:) [googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com...]

[acac]

Thanks for the detailed help. I have decided not to use Javascript but instead use IP based 302 re-direct on server-side like Google does. After all the king cannot be wrong, or can they?

[moopy]

That's a very good question, it's unfortunate that I don't have the answer.

[tedster]

Just make sure that there is a regular html click path to access those 302 target urls. Otherwise googlebot might never index the country specific pages.