ComputerWolf
commented
9 years ago @invest0r7, this has been discussed heavily regarding many javascript plugins that use hidden data and how it is indexed and affects SEO. Most engines, such as Google, have become smart enough to recognize when display:none is used for enhancement purposes vs trying to manipulate your rankings. SlickNav does not place any data off-screen and instead uses display:none which is seen as the proper way to hide elements from view. While the data is still crawled, it is analyzed for intent as well.
This is touched on here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66353?hl=en And other places: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22313672/seo-display-none https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/webmasters/KMi4_wAjYw0
Basically, if you aren't being deceptive, you have nothing to worry about.
invest0r7
So an issue has come up that has me questioning if I should continue to use Slicknav. By default, Slicknav uses Javascript to copy your menu, which allows you to customize the functionality separately, which is very convenient.
However, with how Googlebot is starting to execute Javascript, it looks like it will basically see both menus, the natural raw coded one, and also the duplicate one executed via Javascript.
For example, viewing SlickNav's own site, you can see this issue when viewing it with Firebug or Developer Tools....You'll see the normal menu, and then right after the opening body tag you see the Javascript duplicate...
http://i.stack.imgur.com/GPVi4.jpg
So the issue is if this 2nd Javascript menu is seen and indexed by search spiders, which would essentially index duplicate content. I would have thought search engines would not see this javascript menu at all. I would think a search spider would only take into account the natural code, not Javascript-rendered code. But maybe that isn't so accurate anymore? Does anyone have any insight as to how search engines would treat this and if it's bad practice?