Will this get me banned?

[Tonearm]

I have traffic statistics from WebSideStory/Hitbox set up but spiders keep tripping on the code which I think is Javascript. They end up trying to follow really strange paths that are a combination of the URL and some of the code. To solve this I'm now having that code kept out of the page when a spider is detected. I know search engines don't like it when you change your pages' content for them. Will this get me banned?

[Brett_Tabke]

no.

[Tonearm]

What if I were to get rid of other JS script code in my pages for spiders too? My tell-a-friend JS for example.
Basically, at what point is it cloaking?

[martinibuster]

It's not cloaking to link out to your javascript. In fact, it's a good practice.

Of course, if you are linking out to your tracking code, you will have to create a new file for each page, otherwise the browser will reuse whatever is in it's cache.

[Powdork]

Basically, at what point is it cloaking?

When someone reports you. But at that point you would probably survive a hand check. I wouldn't hide your js from GoogleBot (can we still call her that) as they may be reading more of it in the future and you would then maybe be closer to cloaking, and holding back valuable spiderfood.

[Tonearm]

martinibuster- I'm not talking about linking out for those things, I'm talking about keeping them from being loaded at all when a spider is detected. Is that alright?

[martinibuster]

AFAIK, spiders don't crawl your linked js. I'm assuming you don't have anything to hide. If you have something to hide, that's foolish (no offense, but it's the truth).

[CCowboy]

It may not get you banned... but the fact you are asking if it is bad, means it's bad!

[Tonearm]

LOL! Ok, martinibuster, if spiders don't crawl linked JS then I see what you meant in your other post. I'm definitely not trying to hide anything at all. It's just a matter of:

1. The Hitbox JS causes problems with some spiders.
2. I don't want Hitbox counting visiting spiders as actual visitors.
3. I was reading Brett's great post here: [webmasterworld.com...]
and he mentions search engines' "distaste" for JS. Then again that post from Brett is nearly a year and a half old....

[vincevincevince]

strange paths that are a combination of the URL and some of the code

Sounds a bit like maybe a minor bug in your code that IE can deal with - I suggest carefully checking all URI in the code are properly enclosed in quotes, and that these match each other. Run it through a validator maybe. It does sound like something that can be tweaked to make it work and get rid of the whole problem.

[martinibuster]

I don't want Hitbox counting visiting spiders as actual visitors.

Is this hitbox pro or free?

Hitbox doesn't count spiders as actual visitors, afaik. You may want to doublecheck this with Hitbox customer service, but I'm 99% sure of this.

I haven't had trouble getting sites spidered with hitbox code. It's simply not a problem. You can test this out by setting up an account with Atomz Search and setting their spider loose on your site- any indexing problems will be reported back to you in their log. Hitbox code has never been an issue.

I prefer using a log analyzer because I don't like the JS code. But Hitbox Pro has an instant gratification factor that CEO's are enamored of, so what can you do?

Hitbox free allows anyone to view your stats.

[Good_Vibes]

You can password protect your stats with the free hitbox.
But as you said, it is better to use for CEOs than log files, IMHO.

[Brett_Tabke]

notice the code/gfx in the upper right hand corner? That is randomized. I don't feed the random bits to spiders. It is an adserver all wired up for geo/agent targeting. So give the spider the static content it can use and don't try to confuse it. That's true even if in this case, it is for our own site search engine.

[takagi]

Maybe I miss something, but why don't you put the JavaScript in an include file? If deepfreshbot as GG now calls her, has a problem with the code, having the code in (a) separate file(s) could help.

[Tonearm]

Would putting my JS and Hitbox code in an include keep spiders from hitting it? I don't know anything about includes. That's the same thing as an SSI right?

[g1smd]

I would put your Javascript code into external .js files to keep it completely out of sight of spiders and robots.

Before doing that though, run the HTML pages through [validator.w3.org...] to spot and correct any obvious problems with the code.

Especially escape any ampersands by writing & as &amp; instead, and then escape any closing tags by changing </foo> to be <\/foo> as well.

[davewray]

I've been trying to figure it out...how do you password protect a free hitbox account? I haven't been able to do it...thanks..

[martinibuster]

Yeah, I'd like to know that too.

My understanding is that all you have to do is look at the source code, glean the account number, plug it in at the Hitbox login, and voila:

Your undies are showing!

:o Y

[Tonearm]

Ok, thanks a lot you guys. I guess I'll put my Javascript code into external JS files including the Hitbox code.