Can I use Ajax in my website Ajaxlines and Google can crawl it?

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Not only for SEO's, but also with regards to usability, there should always be an alternative to javascript/ajax. A good example of why SEO is for 50% about making websites better, like they should be. For the other 50% ofcourse, SEO is rocket science ;)

Fixed link Gabs...

Just a quick note -- this is often referred to as "Hijax" or "progressive enhancement." Essentially, you take a fully working, plain HTML page, and then use Javascript to add additional features, "hijack" the functionality of existing form controls, etc. Not only is this great for SEO -- allowing non-Javascript crawlers to spider the site -- but it's also great for accessibility -- allowing non-Javascript browsers to actually use the site.

You can always layer your AJAX with DHTML and replicate the content so that browsers that cannot load AJAX can still see it. I have used this on multiple sites and it works like a charm.

I would say the exact opposite: ajax and seo make WONDERFUL bedfellows, but for the exact opposite reason you discuss here. I have done some "advanced" seo work to my site that very deliberately takes advantage of the fact that ajax content isn't visible to SEs ... as a kind of "kosher cloaking" technique.

I've explained what I do here:

http://www.alistercameron.com/2007/02/05/advanced-search-engine-optimization-seo-for-wordpress/

It all makes sense when you get my full explanation.

So anyway, my suggestion is to consider how useful ajax is to allow you to separate the content on a page you want SEs to see, from what you don't want them to see!

- Alister

What you are saying is MOSTLY true.. But not completely. There is a way to use javascript and Ajax so that engines can spider it just fine.. You do this by modifying the DOM. You can append to the node using a reference to text that is located elsewhere on your server, and have it attach objects on the fly using Xml Http Requests, XHR.. Also, if you write un-obtrusive javascript, there should be no problem regarding spiders at all. Un-obtrusive meaning, if you turn js off, and the page still works (even if it looks different) you should be fine.. Check out this example. It is fully spiderable, but is all javascript... Do a test by turning off js in your browser and see what I mean by un-obtrusive javascript.

What I was working on for the past 3 days is an SEO friendly AJAX site. Still working on it but it is intended to make SEO for AJAX sites easier to do. You can check it out now.

- It can load dynamic AJAX content without page reloading.
- It is pulling the data from a database.
- But content and link can still be crawled and followed.

So far I am pretty stoked myself just looking at what I've done. But it is still a work in progress.

My site, 109things.com, uses Yahoo's User Interface library. I've tried to view it using Lynx, and it seems to look ok, although not as pretty as the AJAX version.

But I think search engines are still able to crawl it too.

Is it ok to use Ajax if you have a sitemap?