Will a Javascript object be read without pre-rendering?

[brianvest]

I have site that is in staging. I have a Javascript object on one of my pages. Is there a way to test to see if google crawler will read the js object without pre-rendering in the code?

http://web-staging.samhillbands.com/bands/

[4RS_John]

What do you mean by "Without Pre-Rendering"?

Google says they can now index some Javascript content. I believe they're using actual browsers, or something very similar, to index web pages. Depending on how true this is, there's a chance they'll index anything you have hidden away in Javascript.

You can use the "Fetch as Google" tool in Webmaster Tools to see what the Googlebot sees. I just ran a test on my site and it does render Javascript. On my site some page elements appear in a different place with Javascript disabled, and in Google's render of the page they appear in the Javascript-enabled location. If you have actual content in the Javascript I don't know what Google will do with it, but they can at least see the result of your Javascript.

[brianvest]

Pre-rendering - the javascript is a state dropdown.  Content is displayed based on the selection.  I did the Fetch as Googlebot and dont see the javascript.

[4RS_John]

I don't believe Google will make a selection for each option in a drop-down, even if they're able to see it. The traditional wisdom is to also provide ways to click to each location - so, somewhere there should be a link to each state, then you can have URLs like /bands/arizona and show the bands in Arizona.

I also have a search-based interface, and I do OK, but our short-term plans include a way to click through to each location without submitting a search form - it should help Google find our content.

[Daniel_Marks]

The fetch as Googlebot function in GWT is definitely your best bet here.

Most JavaScript dropdowns I've run into are being indexed properly by Google by now but if your particular JS implementation isn't being executed when fetching as Googlebot, then you'll need to use a solution like prerender.