Charity project for local women's shelter - need help: will Google notice if you alter the document title with Javascript after the page loads?

[jkonowitch]

I am doing some pro-bono work with a local shelter for female victims of domestic abuse. I am trying to help visitors to the site cover their tracks by employing a document.title change when the page loads using JavaScript. This shelter receives a lot of traffic from Google. I worry that the Google bots will see this javascript change and somehow penalize this site or modify the title in the SERPs. Has anyone had any experience with this kind of javascript maneuver? All help would be greatly appreciated!

[AlanMosley]

How is that going to cover their tracks? the origianl title will show in any history. and you can simply use in private browsing to hide where you have visited if that is your aim. Gogole may not notice but if and when they do you will be done for cloaking.

[RyanKent]

Security and Accessibility are always at odds. The easier information is to access, the less secure it is and vice versa.

You can place your site behind a login which would require all users to register. Google will then have a lot less information about your site and any visitor activity. The problem will then be your pages will no longer be listed in Google's index.

Any additional security really needs to come from the end of the person surfing your site. They could visit your site through a proxy server, clear cache, clear cookies, etc. You can help users by educating them on these steps. There are numerous counter-balances as well. If you are attempting to improve user security, the above can help but it is far from perfect. A pc can have tracking software installed, a router can trace activity, etc.

[randfish]

jkonowitch - if you want to email me privately with more detail, I'd be happy to help and leverage any contacts I can as well (if necessary). Broadly speaking, I might suggest that a javascript title change may be less valuable than helping visitors understand how to more fully remove obvious signs in their browser/on their computer.

[jkonowitch]

Thank you, Rand. I'll be emailing you shortly.

[jkonowitch]

Ryan, thank you so much for your thorough answer. I appreciate the help!

[jkonowitch]

Alan, thank you. Changing the title does refresh how the entry appears in the browser history. The cloaking issue is what I am worried about - you believe Google will see this and penalize?

[AlanMosley]

does it? OK I didnt think it would.

There is a way of making sure you do not appear in the history but i cant remember how it was done.

give me a moment and illl try and find an old website where i did somthingh like this.

[AlanMosley]

There is a way of replacing your page in history, but this does not remove it from the address bar drop down, I think this was a way for old browsers. I am not sure if it is clocking either.

window.location.replace('fakePage.html')

There is a way to check if the user is uing private browsing, but its not easy, you need to check the color of a visisted link. But by this time they have already landed on your page.

I have to say i dont know a way around, if i think of somthing I will get back

[AlanMosley]

There is a way to do this but you need to be using ASP.Net and is a fair bit of work http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc488548.aspx

These 2 solutions do not remove from addres bar in IE, but do remove from history

history.go(-1);

window.location.href = 'http://thatsit.com.au'

window.location.replace('fakePage.html')

[jkonowitch]

Alan -

Wow, great response. I really appreciate your help. The ASP solution does look sophisticated; I think I will look into that as a longer term solution/more sustainable solution.

Cheers!

Jeff

[AlanMosley]

I would set up a test first, as i have not used it myself. It may not work on all browsers.

good luck