Javascript late loaded content not read by Gogglebot

[NicB1]

Hi,

We have a page with some good "keyword" content (user supplied comment widget), but there was a design choice made previously to late load it via JavaScript.  This was to improve performance and the overall functionality relies on JavaScript.  Unfortunately since it is loaded via js, it isn't read by Googlebot so we get no SEO value.

I've read Google doesn't weigh

<noscript>content as much as regular content.  is this true?  Once option is just to load some of the content via <noscript> tags.  I just want to make sure Google still reads this content.</p> <p>Another option is to load some of the content via simple html when loading the page.  If JavaScript is enabled, we'd hide this "read only" version via css and display the more dynamic user friendly version. - Would changing display based on js enabled be deemed as cloaking?  Since non-js users would see the same thing (and this provides a ways for them to see some of the functionality in the widget, it is an overall net gain for those users too).</p> <p>In the end, I want Google to read the content but trying to figure out the best way to do so.</p> <p>Thanks,</p> <p>Nic</p> <p> </p></noscript>

[john4math]

If the content is too late, you're right, the Googlebot may not grab it. However, Google is getting better and better at indexing AJAX content that's loaded after the fact. On one of the sites I work on, we really didn't want to go through the whole process of serving up an HTML snapshot to Googlebot (outlined http://code.google.com/web/ajaxcrawling/).  About a month ago, I did a search in Google based on the AJAX content, and it returned the page, meaning Google is finding that AJAX content and indexing it!  They're indexing comments now (see http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-indexing-facebook-comments/35594/) as well, like Disqus and Facebook comments.  What kind of comments widget are you loading that Google can't get at?  Maybe they'll be able to index them soon?

I would guess that Google would devalue

<noscript>text, as almost everyone has JavaScript enabled. Otherwise, everyone would be keyword stuffing in their <noscript> tags.</p> <p style="color: #5e5e5e;">The option you outlined sounds like it could work. If you're just taking the content from JavaScript, and loading it in the HTML if the user doesn't have JavaScript enabled.  Google is actually suggesting in their ajax crawling guide to actually serve the Googlebot a static page instead of the page with AJAX content, which seems much closer to cloaking than the option you're suggesting.</p></noscript>