Virtual HTML Display - What is it?

Can someone tell me how this works?

The option is enabled by default in vbseocp.

If you are using notices feature in vbulletin, you will see (in source) that the HTML of notices are converted into javascript, which is virtual html

there must be some manual settings (well I'm guessing) as on here the WOL is js too.

Virtual Html Display have 2 different option.
1. vBulletin Notices are rapped inside javascript
2. You can put any text inside javascript by using the following code

Code:

<!--VBSEO_VIRTUAL_HTML-->
your text here
<!--/VBSEO_VIRTUAL_HTML-->

You can use these tags multiple times on a page.

Hello Mert,

I can't get this to work: norcalmotocross.com

Hello Nuno ,

Thank you for your report , we are investigating the situation as it looks like there is a little bug.

Originally Posted by webwizzy

The option is enabled by default in vbseocp.

If you are using notices feature in vbulletin, you will see (in source) that the HTML of notices are converted into javascript, which is virtual html

One of our hottest new features for vBSEO 3.3.0 is "HTML Virtual Display"

ok, but what is "hot" here?
Can you please explain all the benefits of using this thing "virtual html display"... Or if you have a kind of a man/doc for this, it would be great too..

Thanks

From the vBSEO Control Panel.

The "hot" part is how easily page relevancy can be boosted with the flick of a switch, and a few easy template modifications for a more comprehensive optimization.

Apply Virtual HTML Display to vB Notices NEW!
Optimize the relevancy of each page's first text, increase C2C (Content to Code) ratio, and eliminate non-relevant text elements and links by enabling vBSEO to represent general vBulletin notices (at the top of your pages) using Javascript.

This approach effectively removes the actual vB Notices from the HTML source, and increases the relevancy of the rest of the page's content, while leaving the actual page unchanged for the user.

Additionally, any template code placed between the following tags will also be rendered with Javascript and removed, allowing the flexibility to replace any part of the page (with low quality content or links) with a JS version to minimize SEO impact.

<!--VBSEO_VIRTUAL_HTML-->
code here
<!--/VBSEO_VIRTUAL_HTML-->

Concern:

Would this not be flagged as cloaking attempt by Google?

Cloaking, sneaky Javascript redirects, and doorway pages - Webmasters/Site owners Help

Would this not be flagged as cloaking attempt by Google?

No, because the same content is served to guests (bots included) as well as members.

Thanks for the speedy reply ( i notice that the response time is usually very quick on this site - me happpy ! )


I quote below from the Google Webmaster Guidelines and would like to have a confirmation from VBSEO staff here that this feature does not violate Google TOS by any means ( Googles fine print included )

"Sneaky JavaScript redirects

When Googlebot indexes a page containing JavaScript, it will index that page but it cannot follow or index any links hidden in the JavaScript itself.


Use of JavaScript is an entirely legitimate web practice. However, use of JavaScript with the intent to deceive search engines is not.


For instance, placing different text in JavaScript than in a noscript tag violates our webmaster guidelines because it displays different content for users (who see the JavaScript-based text) than for search engines (which see the noscript-based text).


Along those lines, it violates the webmaster guidelines to embed a link in JavaScript that redirects the user to a different page with the intent to show the user a different page than the search engine sees.


When a redirect link is embedded in JavaScript, the search engine indexes the original page rather than following the link, whereas users are taken to the redirect target.

Like cloaking, this practice is deceptive because it displays different content to users and to Googlebot, and can take a visitor somewhere other than where they intended to go.

Note that placement of links within JavaScript is alone not deceptive. When examining JavaScript on your site to ensure your site adheres to our guidelines, consider the intent.

Keep in mind that since search engines generally can't access the contents of JavaScript, legitimate links within JavaScript will likely be inaccessible to them (as well as to visitors without Javascript-enabled browsers).


You might instead keep links outside of JavaScript or replicate them in a noscript tag."




TIA

Use of JavaScript is an entirely legitimate web practice. However, use of JavaScript with the intent to deceive search engines is not.

This looks like an issue then, as this is what Virtual HTML display is doing.

Originally Posted by webwizzy

This looks like an issue then, as this is what Virtual HTML display is doing.

I'd like to see some clarification on the potential TOS violation from VBSEO staff.

Ideally I'd like the VBSEO staff post this feature on official Google group, somebody from Google ( like John Mu ) might comment whether this is against Google TOS or not.

A Javascript redirect is when spammers do the following:

• Setup a doorway page with content such as "puppies", etc, and related keywords.
• The search engines rank the page for puppies and send traffic to it for related keywords.
• However, as soon as the user arrives on the site, the JavaScript detects their visit and forwards them on to a site such as one with pornography, or CPM banners, or affiliate links for an unrelated subject, etc.

We do not do redirects. This is designed only to remove "noise" content that is not relevant to the page.

If a vBulletin notice gets posted and is on every page of your site, it's NOT relevant to any individual page. It's just noise content that is being broadcast site wide in duplicate. The search engines don't want to find pages that always have the same notice at the top.

This ensures that won't happen.

HOWEVER, *if* anyone decided to abuse this feature they *could*. It would be possible for them to do so. In fact, they could do so without this feature such as using Javascript to replace the text content within a DIV area to adult websites when the original text was about something else.

It's the application that counts. Virtual HTML Display focuses on removing duplicate, noise content that actually lessens the value of the page for the search engines trying to figure out what it's about. It's not intended to remove content from the page that would mislead the search engines as to what the page is about. It actually improves Google's accuracy significantly.

Originally Posted by Joe Ward

A Javascript redirect is when spammers do the following:

• Setup a doorway page with content such as "puppies", etc, and related keywords.
• The search engines rank the page for puppies and send traffic to it for related keywords.
• However, as soon as the user arrives on the site, the JavaScript detects their visit and forwards them on to a site such as one with pornography, or CPM banners, or affiliate links for an unrelated subject, etc.

We do not do redirects. This is designed only to remove "noise" content that is not relevant to the page.

If a vBulletin notice gets posted and is on every page of your site, it's NOT relevant to any individual page. It's just noise content that is being broadcast site wide in duplicate. The search engines don't want to find pages that always have the same notice at the top.

This ensures that won't happen.

HOWEVER, *if* anyone decided to abuse this feature they *could*. It would be possible for them to do so. In fact, they could do so without this feature such as using Javascript to replace the text content within a DIV area to adult websites when the original text was about something else.

It's the application that counts. Virtual HTML Display focuses on removing duplicate, noise content that actually lessens the value of the page for the search engines trying to figure out what it's about. It's not intended to remove content from the page that would mislead the search engines as to what the page is about. It actually improves Google's accuracy significantly.

Nice explanation. Thanks.

I wish Aaron Wall ( he uses vbseo for his forum right? ) would confirm this. I trust expertise of that guy