Forum Moderators: phranque
I hope this is the right forum. I checked the robots.txt and the search engine forums and could not
find information about search engine spiders ignoring
encrypted (parts) of an html file. The robots.txt enables one to "disallow" from spidering whole pages
but what about parts of a page?
If only a segment of index.html is encrypted, is
there a way to have spiders ignore the encrypted part
of the file by using html tags or the like?
And what happens if the spider DOES crawl encryption.
Does this confuse the crawler and therefore the page-ranking?
Not a typical question but I would appreciate any help. (smile).
-Aaron
There is no method of excluding parts or pages - it's an all-or-nothing approach. When you mention encryption within an HTML file, what do you mean exactly?
Here is how my index.html is set up.
<html>
<head>Bob's Widgets</head>
<!-- html code
This is the html code for my page
yada... yada... yada...
-->
<!--
Following is the password code for entry into the site
It is javascript...
Since this code specifies the actual password, I encrypt it.
===================================================
First the un-encrypted version...
===================================================
-->
script type="text/javascript">
function check() {
input_pass=document.formular.pass.value;
if (input_pass=="come-on-in") {
alert('Password Correct! Click OK to enter!');
window.location.href=input_pass +".html";
}
else
{
window.location="pw-error.html";
}
</script>
<!--
=====================================================
Now the encryted version .....
========================================================
-->
<script language=JavaScript>[ Non human readable encrypted stuff ] </script>
<!---
regular HTMl follows......
yada yada yada
-->
</html>
I encrypted the segment by using the following...
<snip>
Was just wondering how a search engine spider would
treat the encrypted text
Thanks - Aaron
[edited by: trillianjedi at 8:29 am (utc) on Mar. 25, 2005]
[edit reason] Removed specifics and URL drop - please see TOS. Thanks. [/edit]
What search engines do with such stuff I've no idea; technically it's absolutely no problem to convert the escaped code back into HTML or whatever, although unless the robot understands Javascript it won't know which context the code will appear in.
From the website you mentioned:
If you have sensitive information on your website that is subject to unauthorized use, you need to encrypt it! ... This utility will encrypt your HTML source code to prevent others from viewing it or copying it.
I haven't laughed so much in days.
As a way of hiding passwords... I presume you don't have any sensitive information beyond that page which you absolutely have to keep secret?
Thanks but huh?
As a way of hiding passwords... I presume you don't have any sensitive information beyond that page which you absolutely have to keep secret?
Correct. But why the question? (smile).
Also in the index.html file is my paypal payment code.
One line of sensitive information is the "success" page.
It contains the password the customer is purchasing.
Following is the un-encrypted and the encrypted versions of this paypal code. I believe paypal REALLY
encrypts their code correctly.
<SNIP>
Does the spider get confused by this paypal encryption? I don't know.
I read somewhere that encryption and I assume hexidecimal coding would hinder search engine crawling.
But then again, I don't suppose paypal would produce
encrypted code that would hamper search engine spiders.
-Aaron
-Hawkmva
[edited by: trillianjedi at 8:32 am (utc) on Mar. 25, 2005]
[edit reason] Too much for me to examplify! Repost if necessary without encryption and specifics. [/edit]
d=unescape(m);document.write(d);
I say anybody who uses JavaScript to write anything is asking for trouble since search engine might not fully understand what you doing, but they can certainly deduce that your JavaScript will show some other content than what they (search engines) see, and therefore you page can be flagged as spam.
But anyhow, since your "encrypted stuff" is placed between comments tags it means that most search engines would simply ignore it.
As a way of hiding passwords... I presume you don't have any sensitive information beyond that page which you absolutely have to keep secret?
Correct. But why the question? (smile).
Well, because putting the authentication mechanism in the client is about as secure as giving someone an envelope with the key to your store in it and trusting them not to open it until they've given the correct answer to a question written on the front ;-)
That other stuff from Paypal does look like real encryption though. I presume it would be simply ignored by spiders etc.
Well, because putting the authentication mechanism in the client is about as secure...
Hmmm. Ok I see...
Tell me. When did I put the who in the what :-)...
Hawkmva
But anyhow, since your "encrypted stuff" is placed between comments tags
Actually the "encrypted stuff" is outside the comment
tags. I want the spider (and the browser)
to see them. That is they are outside the
<!-- and --> tags.
(smile) -Hawkmva
Ahhh... Now That's really helpful... *Smile*
All the replies are helpful and I appreciate them
all.
Knowing that I can go ahead and subit the site without worry of seach engine spider crawling is a great relief. Especially since all the encryption methods I know of involve embedding the javasvript between javascript tags * probaly wrong * Anyway
like I said, the replies have helped immensely and
I've never seen such a helpful and responsive forum!.
P.S.
Sorry about the super scrolling. I should have truncated and/or trucated the encryption I presented
here for display. Won't happen again.
-Hawkmva
Sorry about the super scrolling. I should have truncated and/or trucated the encryption I presented
here for display. Won't happen again.
Oops, I meant Sorry about the super scrolling. I should have truncated and/or WRAPPED the encryption...
-Hawkmva
