Forum Moderators: open

Message Too Old, No Replies

doorways and frames?

question about SEO with framed site

         

Bluetuna

10:10 pm on May 1, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



My first post.....I have a framed site, no way around it, and was wondering about a doorway page. If I use a tasteful opening page with no frames that has links to seperate areas (framesets) in the site, will that make it easier for SEO and for spiders to index? It seems that most people tend to stay away from frames when dealing with SEO.

JamesR

10:18 pm on May 1, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I think no frames content and cloaking are the only way. The doorway page may not give you much of an advantage if the frame targets are not going to be indexed anyway.

Are you sure you can't make a noframes version of the site?

Bluetuna

10:22 pm on May 1, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I could, but I am looking for a temporary quick fix. Is what I explained not "legal" in terms of SE? (A frameless page with links to the different framesets with in the site) Will I get knocked for that?

Bluetuna

11:13 pm on May 1, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



my main concern right now is google.

olwen

11:17 pm on May 1, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I have a framed site, consisting of a collection of links to resources that I set up with no knowledge really of what I was doing. It ranks second in Google for it's main keyword.

So I don't think frames worry Google that much.

wilreynolds

8:42 pm on May 2, 2002 (gmt 0)



One of the issues with frame sites, in my opinion, is that if one does rank well, very often there is no navigation on the page b/c the navigation may exist in another frame, so you hit well but then no one can navigate your site b/c of frames. Don't go for the quick fix, fix the frames issue first.

Bluetuna

8:51 pm on May 2, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I will fix the frame issue, I have already started on some sites. Another question, one site has its navigation links on a layer (div), If I use a noframe page with layers, will my friendly spider follow those links? I might be asking too much of the SE, but I am sort of new to the SE world.

legendax

5:02 pm on May 6, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



i ranked 2nd for main keyword and it is done in frames........

tedster

6:01 pm on May 6, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



> very often there is no navigation on the page
> b/c the navigation may exist in another frame

There is a javascript fix for this which works well for me. You can find it about 2/3 of the way down on the Generic Javascript Code [webmasterworld.com] thread. Look for "force many pages into frames".

But I also agree that undoing the frames is the best answer. The problem I've run into with all the SEO "fixes" for framed sites is that they make big demands on maintenance time. And when you are done, you still have a framed site, which is confusing to a certain significant segment of your visitors.

The simple fact is that frames just don't make sense to some users, even though others fall in love with them. Our brains must be wired differently!

> my main concern right now is google.

Then don't worry about <noframes> tags. Google now ignores them.

nell

1:52 am on May 7, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



On the frameset page just use plain <body> tags after the <frameset> and place optimized content within them. Never mind the <noframes> tags.

Black Knight

2:33 am on May 7, 2002 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



Hmmm... Frames...

One of the oldest issues of SEO, and still as contentious an issue as ever really.

Frames are not just an issue for SEO of course. They are capable of messing up all aspects of marketing a site. I'd better support that statement, and as I do so, make note of the limitations you need to correct or handle.

Firstly, more an more users are using WebTV and Mobile devices (Palmtops etc) which do not support frames, and for which you can't just go and upgrade your browser. Using the NOFRAMES to include content for such users is important.

WebTV users are not poor people, people who don't matter. They are often the older generations. People who choose to use technology they already have rather than get involved in computers just to use the internet. They are often shareholders, with fully-paid off mortgages. They have a great degree of spending power. Ignore them at your dire peril.

Palm users are not to be ignored either. Palmtops are not cheap, nor for 'gimps' who fear technology. The users may be senior execs of companies you later hope to make deals with. Think about it. Use the NOFRAMES to ensure you make a good impression to all users.

Second issue is that frames mess with bookmarking. You can only add the frameset to your favourites by default. If they only wanted to bookmark a specific content page, you are just as likely to lose that bookmark altogether. In my testing and experience, framed sites can get 30 percent less bookmarking than the same content out of frames! That, friends, is a serious concern.

My advice with framed sites has always been the same:

Create a separate Frameset page for each and every important content page. Use the NOFRAMES of those individual content based Framesets to give a no-nonsense, no-frills, plain-text-based version of the page content with navigation to all other frameset pages.

Having many framesets gets around the problems mentioned above, and negates the need for complicated redirection scripts to rebuild the frameset around an indexed content page that could be reached outside its intended frameset.

Ammon Johns

Robert Charlton

4:23 am on May 7, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



I concur with Ammon about the use of separate framesets for each important content page. I've generally done this with 2-panel framed sites... have never figured out how to do it gracefully with some nested framesets.

>>Then don't worry about <noframes> tags. Google now ignores them.<<

tedster - I still have framesets in Google that are doing well. I look with every re-index, though, as I do believe their days are numbered; and I always recommend to clients that if they have the budget they take their sites out of frames.

skibum

4:42 am on May 8, 2002 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Google still indexes the text in <no frames> tags, and from the looks of some rankings one one client site, they seem value the text as though it weren't a framed page..