Googlebot first came to my notice for starting to interpret JavaScript back in late 2000 or early 2001 when it gained the ability to detect JavaScript redirection used on-page.
At that time, it wasn’t very advanced, and caused pages with frame-busting or frame-loading javascripts to suffer problems. Since that time, I have used external JavaScript files for everything but a few test sites. Thankfully, this early JavaScript detection (and penalization) was turned off within months.
However, it naturally highlighted Google’s interest and ambition in having a robot that could interpret various JavaScript functions. I’ve never allowed it to slip my mind since, and I’m sure that Google haven’t either.
Ammon Johns Says:
March 20th, 2006 at 8:39 am
Googlebot first came to my notice for starting to interpret JavaScript back in late 2000 or early 2001 when it gained the ability to detect JavaScript redirection used on-page.
At that time, it wasn’t very advanced, and caused pages with frame-busting or frame-loading javascripts to suffer problems. Since that time, I have used external JavaScript files for everything but a few test sites. Thankfully, this early JavaScript detection (and penalization) was turned off within months.
However, it naturally highlighted Google’s interest and ambition in having a robot that could interpret various JavaScript functions. I’ve never allowed it to slip my mind since, and I’m sure that Google haven’t either.