: Is it safe to redirect to ajax enabled content if its not google bot visiting? At a webshop I'm currently working on I have several links that show a fancybox with product information. The

@Gail5422790

Anything that you do specifically for the GoogleBot user agent that is different from regular users even if it's not intended to be malicious falls into the realm of cloaking as far as Google is concerned. A better alternative would be to redirect based on the use of JavaScript, IE see if the user has JavaScript enabled and if yes then send them to the JS version if no send then to the non-JS version. Because you are treating all users the same (a regular user without JS enable would be redirected just like GoogleBot is) that meets the quality guidelines.

Obviously this technique can be used by spammers as well so it's best to only use it if there isn't another option. But if you have to go that route remember that Google wants GoogleBot treated like any other user (if it gets different treatment they get cranky).

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@Angie530

Google recommends the following in its Webmaster Guidelines:


Don't deceive your users or present
different content to search engines
than you display to users, which is
commonly referred to as "cloaking."


Instead of giving users a hard link to the AJAX data provider script, why not just provide the index.php link by default and use Javascript to enhance the link (i.e. by changing its click event to use your AJAX function call instead of directing the user to the index.php link) as the DOM loads?

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