Will Google see this as cloaking?

[realmaverick]

I am convinced, that some javascript code in my source, is effecting my ranking abilities and adsense earnings.

We had a html/php website and IPB forum as the forum software. 2 years ago, we decided to develop the website inside of IPB. So that we had a proper, unified system.

The designs were identical. Pixel for pixel. But Adsense earnings halved over night, followed by drops in traffic and a seemingly stuck traffic since. Prior, traffic was growing rapidly.

Source code was the only difference. Titles, URL's, design, were all identical.

Inside the source code, it references IPB over and over, inside a piece of javascript. I believe this is indicating to Google that the pages are forum pages BUT it expects a discussion and what it actually gets, is a gallery. Or other pages with very little textual content. I can't imagine how much this must confuse the search engine?

Is it really so crazy to believe this could be an issue?

What I wanted to do, was if the user agent matches Google, then prevent the javascript snippet from being printed.

Would that REALLY be so bad? Would they consider it cloaking? Would an automated system pick it up?

Changing the code would be another option, but it would involve a LOT of work and make upgrading the software a nightmare. It's really not practical.

Any advice would be appreciated. It's driving me literally crazy.

[rainborick]

The change in your website's structure could certainly be an issue, but it's not cloaking as long as you serve the same content to Googlebot as you do to regular users. When did the traffic drop occur? Was it recently or soon after the change?

[realmaverick]

I want to hide this chunk of javascript from Google. I can't hide it from my guests, as they need the functionality.

The next day Adsense earnings were 50% and have stayed that way. Traffic has slowly declined, rather than rapidly increase as it was prior.

We are due to launch a massive revision of the website, and I'm concerned it's going to have further negative impact.

Google doesn't need to see this chunk of JS, and it;s not content, so I don't see why it should be an issue. But I don't want to make the change and face deeper issues.

[tedster]

Can you call the script from an external .js file - and then disallow that file in robots.txt?

This approach parallels one of the ways Google recommends to handle redirected links to affiliate "parent" sites - and it requires no user agent detection.

[realmaverick]

Hi tedster, thanks, that sounds feasible. I'm assuming the CMS wouldn't have an issue.

Failing that, another option, could be to create an object named blah, then rename all the variables. Then, in a js file just below the definitions, reassign the object back to the ipb one.

In your opinion Tedster, do you think this could be an issue? I can't see what else could have had such a dramatic impact, at the point of the switch.

I will of course, report back any notable changes, once we roll out the update.

Thanks a lot.

[realmaverick]

Apparently the variables are dynamically generated at run time, based on the page. :(

Though I think creating the object, should still work.

[realmaverick]

Hi guys,

Here is the code

<script type='text/javascript'>
//<![CDATA[
/* ---- URLs ---- */
ipb.vars['base_url'] = 'http://community.invisionpower.com/index.php?s=992c4df75f8f7cbf70aaa193703ed401&';
ipb.vars['board_url']= 'http://community.invisionpower.com';
ipb.vars['img_url'] = "http://ipscommunity.invisionpowerser.netdna-cdn.com/public/style_images/master";
ipb.vars['loading_img'] = 'http://ipscommunity.invisionpowerser.netdna-cdn.com/public/style_images/master/loading.gif';
ipb.vars['active_app']= 'forums';
ipb.vars['upload_url']= 'http://ipscommunity.invisionpowerser.netdna-cdn.com/uploads';
/* ---- Member ---- */
ipb.vars['member_id']= parseInt( 115512 );
ipb.vars['is_supmod']= parseInt( 0 );
ipb.vars['is_admin']= parseInt( 0 );
ipb.vars['secure_hash'] = 'aa09e95c8346510faec3c7704d89951f';
ipb.vars['session_id']= '992c4df75f8f7cbf70aaa193703ed401';
ipb.vars['twitter_id']= 0;
ipb.vars['fb_uid']= 0;
ipb.vars['auto_dst']= parseInt( 1 );
ipb.vars['dst_in_use']= parseInt( 0 );
ipb.vars['is_touch']= false;
ipb.vars['member_group']= {"g_mem_info":"1"}
/* ---- cookies ----- */
ipb.vars['cookie_id'] = 'cforums_';
ipb.vars['cookie_domain'] = 'community.invisionpower.com';
ipb.vars['cookie_path']= '/';
/* ---- Rate imgs ---- */
ipb.vars['rate_img_on']= 'http://ipscommunity.invisionpowerser.netdna-cdn.com/public/style_images/master/star.png';
ipb.vars['rate_img_off']= 'http://ipscommunity.invisionpowerser.netdna-cdn.com/public/style_images/master/star_off.png';
ipb.vars['rate_img_rated']= 'http://ipscommunity.invisionpowerser.netdna-cdn.com/public/style_images/master/star_rated.png';
/* ---- Uploads ---- */
ipb.vars['swfupload_swf']= 'http://community.invisionpower.com/public/js/3rd_party/swfupload/swfupload.swf';
ipb.vars['swfupload_enabled']= true;
ipb.vars['use_swf_upload']= ( 'flash' == 'flash' ) ? true : false;
ipb.vars['swfupload_debug']= false;
/* ---- other ---- */
ipb.vars['highlight_color']   = "#ade57a";
ipb.vars['charset']= "iso-8859-1";
ipb.vars['seo_enabled']= 1;

ipb.vars['seo_params']= {"start":"-","end":"\/","varBlock":"\/page__","varSep":"__"};

/* Templates/Language */
ipb.templates['inlineMsg']= "";
ipb.templates['ajax_loading'] = "<div id='ajax_loading'><img src='http://ipscommunity.invisionpowerser.netdna-cdn.com/public/style_images/master/ajax_loading.gif' alt='" + ipb.lang['loading'] + "' /></div>";
ipb.templates['close_popup']= "<img src='http://ipscommunity.invisionpowerser.netdna-cdn.com/public/style_images/master/close_popup.png' alt='x' />";
ipb.templates['rss_shell']= new Template("<ul id='rss_menu' class='ipbmenu_content'>#{items}</ul>");
ipb.templates['rss_item']= new Template("<li><a href='#{url}' title='#{title}'>#{title}</a></li>");
ipb.templates['m_add_friend']= new Template("<a href='http://community.invisionpower.com/index.php?app=members&amp;module=profile&amp;section=friends&amp;do=add&amp;member_id=#{id}' title='Add as Friend' class='ipsButton_secondary'><img src='http://ipscommunity.invisionpowerser.netdna-cdn.com/public/style_images/master/user_add.png' alt='Add as Friend' /></a>");
ipb.templates['m_rem_friend']= new Template("<a href='http://community.invisionpower.com/index.php?app=members&amp;module=profile&amp;section=friends&amp;do=remove&amp;member_id=#{id}' title='Remove Friend' class='ipsButton_secondary'><img src='http://ipscommunity.invisionpowerser.netdna-cdn.com/public/style_images/master/user_delete.png' alt='Remove Friend' /></a>");
ipb.templates['autocomplete_wrap'] = new Template("<ul id='#{id}' class='ipb_autocomplete' style='width: 250px;'></ul>");
ipb.templates['autocomplete_item'] = new Template("<li id='#{id}' data-url='#{url}'><img src='#{img}' alt='' class='ipsUserPhoto ipsUserPhoto_mini' />&nbsp;&nbsp;#{itemvalue}</li>");
ipb.templates['page_jump']= new Template("<div id='#{id}_wrap' class='ipbmenu_content'><h3 class='bar'>Jump to page</h3><p class='ipsPad'><input type='text' class='input_text' id='#{id}_input' size='8' /> <input type='submit' value='Go' class='input_submit add_folder' id='#{id}_submit' /></p></div>");
ipb.templates['global_notify'] = new Template("<div class='popupWrapper'><div class='popupInner'><div class='ipsPad'>#{message} #{close}</div></div></div>");


ipb.templates['header_menu'] = new Template("<div id='#{id}' class='ipsHeaderMenu boxShadow'></div>");

ipb.global.checkDST();

Loader.boot();
//]]>
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">

 var _gaq = _gaq || [];
 _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-26409140-1']);
 _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);

 (function() {
  var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
  ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
  var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
 })();

</script>

We've just altered the references of IPB to our domain name, however, I'm still not happy with that massive amount of code being output in to the page. It can't be good.

Is hiding the "junk" really so bad? That's the only chunk of code I want to hide from Google. But obviously I don't want to suddenly find the website penalised.

Would love to hear your views!

[tedster]

In your opinion Tedster, do you think this could be an issue? I can't see what else could have had such a dramatic impact, at the point of the switch.

I would really hope not - but as you say, the timing is suggestive.

Does this JavaScript execute with appropriate speed - no obvious hit on page load times?

I'm still not happy with that massive amount of code being output in to the page. It can't be good.

The script itself is not all that massive, only a bit over 4KB - and with gzip compression on your server (I hope) that should have a negligible impact.

Have you tested your new pages with the "Fetch as googlebot" tool in WMT?

[g1smd]

I see references to session IDs in that script.

Do you expose those in any URLs on the site?