Hiding body copy with a 'read more' drop down option

[Dan-Lawrence]

Hi

I just want to confirm how potentially damaging using java script to hide lots of on page body copy with a 'read more' button is ?

As per other moz Q&A threads i was told that best not to use Javascript to do this & instead "if you accomplish this with CSS and collapsible/expandable <DIV> tags it's totally fine" so thats what i advised my clients dev.

However i recently noticed a big drop in rankings aprox 1 weeks after dev changing the body copy format (hiding alot of it behind a 'read more' button) so i asked them to confirm how they did implement it and they said: "done in javascript but on page load the text is defaulting to show" (which is contrary to my instructions)

So how likely is it that this is causing problems ? since coincides with ranking drop OR if text is defaulting to show it should be ok/not cause probs ?

And should i request that they redo as originally instructed (css & collapsible divs) asap ?

All Best

Dan

[RafalJ]

Collapsible divs use jquery which is a javascript. I don't think the rankings drop has got anything to do with it, unless there is an error which prevents cralwrs to access the text content. Fetch and render the page in WMT to see if there are problems.

[Dan-Lawrence]

thanks Rafal will do that now

[Dan-Lawrence]

ok ive done that but status is saying 'partial' not 'complete' so i take it that means there is an issue ?

[MickEdwards]

Either switch javascript off in the browser or search cache:www.yoursite and see if you spot any content missing.

[RafalJ]

click on it and look at the list of issues - are there any javascripts blocked, unreachable etc.? is the preview complete or elements are missing? is render of this particular page (that lost rankings) different to other pages on your website? talk to your web developers about this and get them to fix any issues there. If there are no issues then the reason for your loss of rankings is somewhere else

[Dan-Lawrence]

Thanks Mick i searched cache:www.yoursite (clients hp url) and is showing as it shows usually, with just the first couple of paragraphs then read more button/link.

Are you saying when doing above (searching cache etc) it should show all the content as if i had clicked 'read more' button ? and if doesnt then there is an issue ?

cheers

dan

[RafalJ]

the cache version might still be of the page before they did changes to it Mick

[Dan-Lawrence]

Thanks Rafa , ok done that and only listed issue is:

Googlebot couldn't get all resources for this page. Here's a list:

/fonts/glyphicons-halflings-regular.woff

so not sure if that refers to actual body copy or just some font style or similar etc etc ?

as i mentioned before the status of the fetch is 'partial' though not 'complete' so presume that means an issue, or does that just relate to 'G couldn't get all resources' ?

thanks, Dan

[RafalJ]

Partial doesn't necesserily means there is a problem. Check this article by Google: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6066472?hl=en

If that font is the only thing not loading then it's not a problem for crawlers and it wouldn't have affected you rankings.

Btw that link to the font returns 404 error? Why are you loading fonts from a different website in the first place? Have it loaded from your site or from Google.

[Dan-Lawrence]

Ok thanks Rafa that's good news

Rankings must just be just fluctuation or impact of any recent G algo updates since no other changes to site apart from the addition of some exact match anchor text links to product pages & more copy in prod descrips.

will see how next ranking report performs and look into further then if more drops or no bounce back

Re: 404 your correct how did you know without the domain part of the url ?  Thanks ill tell dev

Really appreciate all your help Rafa !! thanks again !!

All Best

Dan

[Dan-Lawrence]

Sorry just to confirm ....

if the body copy being displayed in GWT under the "This is how Googlebot fetched the page:" does NOT show the text that's revealed after clicking 'read more' button then thats ok since if was a prob would be listed problem such as javascripts blocked etc etc

OR

it is a problem since Googles not seeing the rest of the body copy ?

thanks

dan

[MickEdwards]

yes, if the date of the cache is prior.  So I would suggest disabling javascript in the browser reload the page and see if the expected text is displayed.  If not that's what Google misses.

...and yes Google should show all the text in the cache version (text only) if the cached version is subsequent to your amendment.

[Dan-Lawrence]

ok have done this now and all normally hidden body copy/content now shows so presume that means G can see it

[MickEdwards]

You want Settings >> Show Advanced Settings >> (Privacy) Content Settings >> (Javascript) Do not allow any site to run javascript >> Finished.

Reload the site and check what you can see, or open up.

[Dan-Lawrence]

grt thanks Mick

have done this now and all normally hidden body copy/content now shows so presume that means G can see it and i no longer need worry about this

[MickEdwards]

yep, sound good.

I was working on a site last year and they switched a DNN module based on your scenario without letting me know, having already tested the existing module.  First I saw was when rankings and traffic wobbled.  In this case the text was lost in the javascript and accounted for about 25-30% of content on all their main pages. Nightmare!

[Dan-Lawrence]

great thanks for the reassurance Mick !

[RafalJ]

Hi Dan,

I have just clicked on the link you provided

Since the new Penguin is still rolling out and most ranking changes are at the moment down to this algo refresh I would suggest looking at your link profile for a start and if there is nothing wrong there, simply wait a couple of weeks until the refresh has officially finished and take it from there...

[Dan-Lawrence]

Ah ha ! i see it included the full url in the link code

thanks Rafa yes i see similar flux with all my other clients now and none have dodgy links so presume just algorithmic flux, will review in a week or two

all best

dan