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HTMLHelp Forums _ Markup (HTML, XHTML, XML) _ Search engines read (crowl) links from dropdonw lists (select tag)?

Posted by: Q Trans Jun 1 2021, 05:31 AM

Hello,
I have a english website with other languages version.
Please let me know if search engines read (crowl) links from dropdonw lists?

For example:

<select name="morelanguage" class="languages">
<option value="" ></option>
<option value="https://www.qtransform.com/en/convert/volume.php" selected="selected">english</option>
<option value="https://www.qtransform.com/ro/transforma/volum.php">romana</option>
</select>

Google, Bing and other will access and crowl links(urls) from <select> ... </select> ?

Posted by: pandy Jun 1 2021, 11:27 AM

Interesting question. Do search engine note and follow URLs that aren't links? I don't know. Alas it turned out to be impossible to google, as you've probably discovered. If I would guess I would guess the answer is yes, but sure I ain't.

I guess yes because they do follow URLs in meta tags and scripts. So why not in the body of a HTML document?

Posted by: Christian J Jun 1 2021, 02:11 PM

I found this old thread: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4926942/best-practices-for-html-dropdown-menus-and-seo-impact

Posted by: pandy Jun 1 2021, 05:50 PM

But the menu the thread starter asks about would have links, wouldn't it? In our OP's case it's just URLs.

Posted by: Christian J Jun 1 2021, 07:05 PM

You're right, I could have sworn I saw a SELECT element being mentioned. Here's a better one about Google: https://www.seroundtable.com/archives/016873.html

To be one the safe side, one could always create a sitemap page with ordinary links for search engine bots to follow.

Posted by: pandy Jun 1 2021, 08:01 PM

QUOTE(Christian J @ Jun 2 2021, 02:05 AM)

You're right, I could have sworn I saw a SELECT element being mentioned. Here's a better one about Google: https://www.seroundtable.com/archives/016873.html

Yeah, and it seems to be about being penalized for having oodles of links at the top of the page. I didn't get that. Why would google mind that?

QUOTE

To be one the safe side, one could always create a sitemap page with ordinary links for search engine bots to follow.

Or, in case this menu is driven only by JS without a server-side backup, it would make sense to have second menu with real links and hide that with JS. That way booth SEs and users without JS would get their links.

Posted by: Christian J Jun 2 2021, 04:12 AM

QUOTE(pandy @ Jun 2 2021, 03:01 AM)

Yeah, and it seems to be about being penalized for having oodles of links at the top of the page. I didn't get that. Why would google mind that?

With lots of link but very little real content, it might be regarded as a sitemap (and thus not shown in search results).

The last few years I recall Google has also started penalizing pages that don't show their main content "above the fold". Not sure if the CSS layout is taken into account as well (in which case a large menu could be hidden).