The Guardian Website Ditches JavaScript for SEO Reasons

The debate surrounding the relative SEO benefits or hindrances of Java script for SEO rages on with the news that the Guardian website has dropped all JavaScript on its comments board. Apparently the decision was taken, at least partly in order to enhance its search engine performance. So, will this help?

Well, quite possibly. The pages will probably load quicker, which it’s pretty widely agreed has an effect, also having just one type of code on the page should make the pages easier for the spiders from Google and Bing to crawl. These SEO benefits may be marginal, but even a small improvement over the number of indexable pages that the Guardian has should make a serious difference.

However, in my opinion, the really useful changes will be in terms of user experience. The lack of Javscript on page will mean that the pages will be easily viewable on mobile devices such as iPhones, etc. Also, comments will be more accessible to users.

However, there is also the counter argument that the Guardian is essentially taking a backwards step by doing this, that browsers are increasingly optimising towards JavaScript enabled content. Also, it could be argued that a page constantly refreshing as a site updates its comments board is just as annoying as a slightly overlong load time.

Only time will tell the results of this move. It is however, an interesting test case.

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