Search Engines unable to see Outbound Links in HV Menu (v5.5)

[navieko]

1) Script Title:
:: HV Menu v5.5

2) Script URL (on DD):
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex1/hvmenu/index.htm

3) Describe problem:
I've been doing a little reading up on the do's and don'ts regarding search engine optimization. I realize now that -- although I really love the customizability that the HV menu gives me -- because of the fact that it is totally javascript, search engines don't see any of the links within the menu.

My question is, is there any way of modifying it so that search engines will see the links (as a result better rankings), and if so, how would I go about implementing the changes?

Or if that is out of the question, what other menus would you recommend for my website? http://www.greensolutions2012.com

Your help is much appreciated!

[jscheuer1]

HV is a pretty old script and isn't SEO friendly. It's not even non-javascript friendly. To solve both problems, either update to a menu that is, or use a fall back non-javascript menu enclosed in <noscript></noscript> tags.

You can generally tell if a menu is SEO and non-javascript friendly if its links are ordinary HTML a tags that go right on the page. Double check by turning off javascript for the page, if you can still use the menu to navigate, then you're golden. Note: An SEO/non-javascript friendly menu may not look so good with javascript turned off, but it should at least allow the user to navigate the site.

[navieko]

Thanks for the reply and information!

So just to make sure, if I was to use a more SEO friendly "fall back" menu enclosed in <noscript> tags, and keep the HV menu that I now have... that would keep me covered for both people that have javascript disabled, as well as the search engine spiders that will index the <noscript> links, even if for the most part it is hidden/not being used?

Again I appreciate your help mate!

[jscheuer1]

I'm not 100% sure about the spiders. But spiders are noscript agents so should follow and recognize the links as normal links. You're not really tricking them as you would be with - say a display: none; section. Those links are accessible to anyone viewing the page.